


The Veil is Breached

by Eternum



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Politics, Dark Magic, Elves, F/F, F/M, Gen, Katolis (The Dragon Prince), M/M, Magic Technology, Magic and Science, Magic vs Science, Magical Realism, Moonshadow Elves (The Dragon Prince), Multi, Original Character(s), Other, Politics, Science, Strategy & Tactics, Sunfire Elves (The Dragon Prince), Tidebound Elves (The Dragon Prince), War, Xadia (The Dragon Prince)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:14:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 43,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27801358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternum/pseuds/Eternum
Summary: It's an AU... so sue me.After humanity was banished to the west, Xadia was separated from them using a magical barrier called the veil that was sustained by the ambient primal energy. Thus began the mage wars as powerful mages rose to become warlords, battling for resources and land.Katolis, Durren, Del Bar, Neolandia, Evenere, the Estarian Confederacy, and the Erdus Dukedom are the nations that exist right now with all the others I came up with been absorbed into the others effectively wasting the time I spent writing up their descriptions.Xadia was confident that humanity would never pose a threat to them since the western part of the continent was all but devoid of magical life, so Dark Magic was rendered worthless.Elves were 3-5 times stronger than a human and a lot more resilient, combined with their magic, they felt secure in the belief that they would retain their superiority even if humanity ever managed to breach the veil.However by banishing humanity, they had ensured that humanity would become more powerful than if they stayed in Xadia.if you have question then ask in the comment section, I may or may not answer them.
Relationships: Aanya/Ellis/Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 67
Kudos: 76





	1. Strings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> world map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png

A group of soldiers were searching through the storm for a merchant caravan that was caught in an accident in the territory of Viscount Rimemere whose own soldiers who wanted to wait for the storm to pass before conducting a search. The national army always found feudal troops to be either reliable or a source of headaches that were more trouble than they were worth with nothing between or beyond, this time it was the latter which only made this entire ordeal more vexing. The storm was so fierce that you could barely see or hear anything. Their flashlights were rendered almost useless in this rain as they were walking ankle-deep in mud which had also seeped into their boots. The winds were strong enough that they felt like they would fall over if they weren't careful and fought against it considering what awaited them if they let that happen.

“THERE IT IS!”

one of them shouted, his voice barely heard over the storm.

At the bottom of a mountainous path, they saw the destroyed remains of several wagons. Its contents scattered about, some buried under the mud.

“LOOK FOR SURVIVORS!”

Half of them began to set a few large tents while the others quickly looked around and found the dead horse, with the lifeless bodies of the passengers nearby. Trapped in the wreckage of one of the wagons lay the sole survivor, unconscious and severely injured.

“MEDIC! WE HAVE A SURVIVOR!” One of them called out, noticing one of the bodies was still breathing but barely, she was up to her neck in water. They began to get her out and took her over to one of the tents where the medic rushed over and began administering whatever treatment possible. While the others continued their search before concluding there were no others to save and took shelter inside the remaining tents. Moving a caravan under this kind of weather when there was no need, plus all the other irregularities while all appearing to be nice and legal made this entire thing feel highly suspicious. He should've tried to bring in some of the Militia with them, they might've been able to help here.  
Several hours later the medic came out saying “She should make it, if she were human, she be dead for sure.”

"was it that bad?" one of them asked,

"yes, if her injuries didn't kill her, then hypothermia and infection would... she'll need further treatment and medications when we get back" the medic stated, looking towards the unconscious girl.

"thats good to hear, on that note, I just got word that one of the transports just got back, they'll head over once this storm lets up a bit"

An hour later the storm subsided almost to an unnatural degree, they began searching nearby. The cargo looked to be mainly food and jewelry though they were all buried under mud. One of them got curious about the small sealed containers buried under thick layers of mud, picking one up and wiping away the mud she noticed that there was no labeling to identity it so she opened one of them. It let out an audible hiss like canned food but what she found inside was anything but food.  
“Sir, you might want to have a look at this,” she said, holding up a shattered gem that seemed to emit a very faint light.

“th-this is…“

“We should report this to the Viscount immediately.”

“Don’t inform him or his men of anything; make sure this information goes directly to the King.” another interjected, his uniform more ornate. He began to look around the vicinity.  
“Well head back to the mansion… I’m sure they will have questions for her once she’s recovered.”  
“But sir this territory is under Lord Hasting’s control.”

“Tell that piece of haggis that we have found the caravan but we left soon after encountering signs of an infestation and so we couldn't conduct a proper search, that should shut him up while we deal with this.” The conversation was over, leaving no room for arguments. He then took some of the men to shoot at the trees and bushes just to make the story convincing.

"Do you think they'll believe this story?" one of them asked

"Only if Hasting actually bothered to hire a seasoned tracker" he retorted, his tone filled with disgust. He wondered how these feudal nobles managed to last as long as they did. "lets get out of here, once we get back its a nice warm bath for us all" he said which brought a smile to everyone present who were only too happy to follow those orders.

\-----------

At the castle an hour before dawn, Harrow was in the council meeting reading a report that came in with Opeli and Viren shocked at its contents.

“Grade-B1 Etherium... how?” Opeli asked, still unsure of what to make of this report

“I’m more interested in who and why.” Harrow interjected, placing the report on the table.

“I agree, though finding out who won’t be a problem... it’s the why that concerns me.” Viren added "What exactly is he even going to use it for? Its useless as a catalyst for spells or does he intend to sell it for wealth or favors?" his usual stoic expression was replaced by genuine confusion, he couldn't understand how a mere viscount would have the means and connection to get his hands on this, and he didn't like the implications one bit.

"If we can find any evidence connecting him to it then our job will be easier. Shall I ask Prince Callum to put out some feelers?" Opeli asked.

"Do it but keep things on a need to know and ask him to investigate the logistical side of this." Harrow replied then turned to Viren  
"Has Vaeril made any progress on his end?" 

Viren shook his head "No, his agents are being impeded by several Alta Magus and Golems. Their considering waiting it out rather than risking discovery"

Harrow nodded "Its better that they not take any risks" then changed subjects "Whats the status of" 

"only three left and their likely to be finished by the end of this month" Viren replied without hesitation, his voice dripping with pride and satisfaction. 

They all paused as they heard a knock on the door, Opeli asked them to identity themselves and state their business without opening the door. 

"Your majesty, I came to inform you that the hunters came in empty handed so there won't be any fresh deer for tonight's dinner." the person outside said.

"Thank you, tell them not to worry about it" Harrow replied, then the sound of footsteps was all that could be heard.  
Harrow merely chucked "Looks like Bait is going to be exceptionally grumpy tonight." 

"Regardless of the state of tonight's dinner, we should focus on how to deal with Viscount Rimemere" Opeli added, "as it stand, he's already violated 14 different laws according to this report, once we have evidence then we can abolish his house." Neither of them could argue with her, if she said something was permissible or not within the law then that matter was settled. Not even the courts dared to argue with her.

\----------

Dawn, two days later within Rimemere, the halls of the mansion were filled with music as someone was playing a violin somewhere as the staff went about their day, 

“where... am I?” she said as she awoke, she was overcome by a jolt of searing pain as she tried to get up, the pain alone made her give up trying and laid down. She recalled getting hired to act as security for a caravan, then getting caught up in an accident as her caravan fell down the mountain path during the storm, and being stuck under the wagon, but nothing else after that.

As she kept thinking, she heard the sound of a violin playing from somewhere, it sounded relaxing that she almost forgot about her current predicament. She shook her head which she quickly regretted as she was rewarded by another jolt of pain.  
“GAH! Just how badly was I injured?”

Trying yet failing to ignore the pain, she tried to figure out where she even was. Looking around, she understood her room was too well-appointed to be some kind of Apothecary. The curtains, furniture, the carpet, the large jewel embedded chandelier above, even her comfy bed and cloths

"CHANDELIER?! who puts such a ginormous chandelier in a bedroom?! AAARGH!" she exclaimed then wincing from the pain. "I might die from the pain if I keep this up,"

Everything looked so expensive that she thought that even one of these items would cost her an entire year’s wages just to rent for just one day.

“Why am I in such a luxurious room?” Oddly enough when checking her body she couldn’t find any bruises, no cuts, no broken bones, no stitches, no bloodstains, no inflammations, or bandages. The only thing that looked out of place in this entire room was her. She didn’t understand why her body looked fine, despite the pain telling her otherwise.

Then the door opened to reveal a female Sunfire elf, she wore an ornate outfit that also doubled as light armor. But the markings on her clothes were somehow different from the designs she saw on normal Sunfire elf clothes.

“Ah good, you are finally awake.” the sunfire elf said as she walked towards her. “How are you feeling?”

“That’s what I want to ask, I look fine but,” she asked, her face a mix of confusion, worry, and agony... but mostly agony.  
The sun fire elf gave a light chuckle “that was my response when I first got treated, basically they healed your body but the pain and fatigue persists for a while. Relax you’ll be be on your feet in no time considering how bad your condition was when they rescued you.”

“I am Janai, Golden Knight of Lux Aurea… assuming my sister hasn’t replaced me thinking I’m dead… and you are?” she introduced herself with a slight bow.

“Rayla, just Rayla... ummm … did anyone else?” she wanted to know if the others managed to survive.

“No,” Janai responded, “I’m sorry, when they found you, everyone else was already dead.... Were they close to you?”

“No, I just met them a few days ago,” she said, she had no real attachment to them, but they hired her for this job despite her being an elf and they treated her quite well. They needed someone to guard them in case they were attacked by bandits. she would probably need to talk with her landlord about delaying her payment when this was all over, she just arrived here as a refugee over three months ago and money was something she didn't have a lot of. Then it dawned on her, why was the strongest warrior and the sister of the Queen of Lux Aurea speaking to her in some rich human's mansion.

“Excuse me but where are we and why are you here in Katolis?” her confusing obvious on her face. Janai knew from experience what she mean't though that didn't mean what followed ever got old.

“This is my wife’s mansion, the soldiers who found you brought you here since it would be safer.” then shrugged.  
“As for why I am here, I was brought to Katolis when I was rescued”

“You’re wife owns a mansion?” That made almost no sense to Rayla, she was wondering if this was some strange dream after hitting her head but then quickly remembered why it couldn't be a dream. 

“Yes though her position as General of the Katolis Army means she is often at the border.” she said as her face flushed a slight shade of pink

“THE IRON WALL OF KATOLIS?!” Why is the Golden Knight of Lux Aurea married to General Amaya!?” she groaned before she was brought down by waves of pain, again. Runaan had shown her the general's dossier listing her as a highly dangerous non-mage that could easily fight elves and necroids on her own. How does this even happen she wondered while switching her gaze back and forth from Janai to the chandelier of all things.

“Am I not allowed to?.” Janai asked, pretending to be alarmed while smirking, before long she began explaining to Rayla about her current condition while answering any questions she had, though Janai wouldn't deny she found it hilarious watching Rayla's exaggerated reactions which were always accompanied by pain. Rayla wondered if the treatment was originally developed by a masochist, she swore she would have look into it one day.

“You should rest, for now. I’ll have one of the servants bring you your meal soon, you can listen to this music till then. Once you're healed we can discuss other matters."

She then walked over to the nearby cabinet and took out a small jar, she took some pills and a glass of water. "Here's, its a pain suppressant," Janai said smiling as she offered the pills to her 

"You waited this long before giving me those?!" Rayla asked, her annoyance bubbled to the surface.

"Yes, yes I did" Janai responded, a warm radiant smile on her face still fixed on her face.

Rayla wanted to tear that smile off Janai's face, her subconscious almost daring her to do it. The grinding of her teeth barely audible as she begrudgingly took the pills "I hope this works," Having finally understood why the previous generations took so much pride in the large public bathhouses they built. 

She then left quietly closing the door.

Rayla was lying on the bed listening to the music coming from outside, it reminded her of the large music performances held in the capital of the Moonshadow Kingdom when Runaan and Ethari took her there before the war. This song felt comparable to that despite only one isntrument being used here, maybe that was why it felt somewhat incomplete because the song was originally made to include multiple instruments and vocals, yet it was still mesmerizing to her ears but there was a strange emotional weight to it almost as if whoever was playing it was weighed down by something  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Music is the Whereabouts of Light (hoshi no arika), its from Trails in the Sky, a JRPG by Nihon Falcom
> 
> instrumentals version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3K-jn42Xsc  
> japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX6xpVVNF2o  
> english fan version (this is actually very good): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkCKdc8oHn8
> 
> random guy playing this song using a violin while wearing a weird mask: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfp5WCl0H88  
> because why the hell not
> 
> \-------------------------  
> I’ll explain how noble ranks and all work.
> 
> 1\. The King and Royal family  
> 2\. Margrave  
> 3\. Marquis/ Marchioness  
> 4\. Count/Countess/Earl  
> 5\. Viscount/Viscountess  
> 6\. Baron/Baroness
> 
> Nobles are split into 3 categories  
> 1\. Feudal nobles: they directly control territory given to them by the Crown and can have their own personal army within legal limits.
> 
> 2\. Bureaucratic Nobles: They deal with bureaucracy and administration. Their noble titles are mainly ceremonial with their power being limited to their jobs. They are subordinate to a feudal lord or the king. The rank of Earl is meant solely for this type of nobility only and is the highest rank they can get.
> 
> 3\. Merchant Nobles - Also known as filthy rich people.  
> Their rank is limited to Baron/Baronet only and doesn’t do any governing so they possess very little in the way of real power compared to the others. They do possess more wealth than a bureaucratic noble who is just a well-paid govt employee. They can only hire guards and troops from others. SO RISE UP COMRADES AND SEIZE THE MEMES OF PRODUCTION FROM THESE PLUTOCRATS
> 
> Power: Feudal Noble > Bureaucratic Noble > Merchant Noble  
> Status: Feudal > Bureaucratic Noble > Merchant Noble  
> Wealth: Feudal Noble ><= Merchant Noble > Bureaucratic Noble
> 
> A merchant noble can acquire wealth sometimes even greater than that of a feudal lord depending on the ranking since they don’t have to expend vast sums to maintain an entire territory.
> 
> Only those who control territory are allowed to raise their own personal troops within the limits of the law. 
> 
> How naming works here:
> 
> Feudal Nobles are officially referred to by or  
> “Viscount Rimemere” is just shorthand for “Viscount of Rimemere” or “Viscount of House Rimemere”
> 
> Rimemere is the name of the territory,  
> Lord Hasting - Hasting is the family name of the Viscount  
> House Rimemere refers to the Viscount’s family who was put in charge of the territory and those they employ to govern the territory. Basically, it’s the feudal govt of the territory.
> 
> Hasting’s spouse or children are not official considered as Viscount/Viscountess because they are not the feudal lord of the territory. This is to prevent a territory from having too many people in charge. The spouses and children are referred to as lord/lady/sir/madam. 
> 
> Lord/Lady is ALWAYS used for bureaucratic and merchant nobles unless we’re talking about an Earl. A Feudal Lord may only be referred to as such those that have close ties with them or those that have an equal or higher rank than them, or those out of earshot. ;)
> 
> Marquise/Marqueness are referred to as “Your excellency”, their territory is at the border, and are allowed to maintain larger numbers of personal troops to help defend the kingdom from invasions.
> 
> A margrave is referred to as "Lord Margrave" 
> 
> A Margrave is similar to a Marquise but with a few caveats. They are functionally a feudal lord and the king's own enforcer as well. They are not required to hold territory but they can take direct control of a territory and those nearby during emergencies or in the likelihood of war if they find the territory is ill-prepared to deal with it. They have their own personal troops but are also given command of the military by the king in certain matters.
> 
> A key difference is that a margrave is given free rein to accomplish his task. If the king tells the margrave to drag you out of your house then the only thing preventing them from using a cannon to accomplish that is if the king explicitly says not to use one. 
> 
> “You are free to use any methods necessary but I want them Alive, No disintegration” – Darth Vader
> 
> The rank is not hereditary, a baron can become a margrave but their heirs can only be barons/baroness. It applies only to the individual. Margraves are like an exception to the rule when it comes to feudal nobles.
> 
> The rank of Duke/Duchess was abolished by the Orphan Queen after the ungrateful lot tried a futile rebellion.
> 
> Them: We have unanimously decided as someone born a commoner, you are unfit to be queen.  
> Orphan Queen: Its Treason then
> 
> basically I completely forgot about this rank and so I chose the easy way out. MUAHAHAHAHA


	2. First Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla is healed, and meets two new people, and gets more than she bargained for.
> 
> Music for the first part of this chapter (I completely forgot to add this):  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsmSmBDWFQ  
>    
> While the neighboring Erdus Dukedom deals with its own internal problems
> 
> world map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png
> 
> If you have questions then ask in the comment section, I'll try to answer them as long as it won't spoil anything  
> and if you have ideas for me to add to this then let me know

Next Day.

Now that she had fully recovered, she made it her top priority to explore the entire estate. Ignoring the curious stares from the staff, most of whom were elves though she realized that wasn't strange considering Janai was married to the owner.  
Sculptures, armor sets, and paintings lined the halls. Most of the paintings were of scenery that seemed like it was from Xadia, though this place seemed to contain an excessive number of chandeliers. "Just how many of these things do these people have?"

One of the halls contained an odd-looking worn-out armor set as the central piece, she assumed this used to belong to General Amaya. 

Eventually, she managed to find her way to the garden, though calling it that was inaccurate as it looked more like a forest, with trees of all kinds, orchids, and other flora filling up every space. There was even a small waterfall that fed into a stream that seemed to cut across the garden. 

It was all artificial obviously but that didn't detract from its beauty. The stream if you paid close attention was a channel made of permacrete that used stones, aquatic vegetation, and several species of fish to make it all look natural. The vegetation that grew around it made it more believable.

The light filtering through the canopy made everything appear majestic. She realized some of the scenic paintings were of this place. she felt like being in the meadow back home half expecting to find several adoraburrs sticking to her as she walked through. 

"whoever made this place knew what they were doing." she acknowledged, how could she not, this man-made forest made her feel like she was back in Xadia, knowing that she would never be able to go back. She distantly wondered if perhaps Janai had this place made because she misses her home too.

As she kept going she felt an all too familiar tingle in her lower jaw as her nostrils were filled with a light citrusy fragrance, she noticed it was coming from a strange group of fruiting trees nearby, she plucked one of the fruits and sniffed at it, the scent was similar to a lemon though sourer. She decided to take a bite to see if they tasted the same.

\----

Callum was leaning against a tree sketching what he thought Xadia would look like. His aunt Janai, Vaeril, and the others had given him good descriptions and said his works were great yet he always felt like he fell short and that he needed to see Xadia in order to capture its beauty. But he tossed that thought away knowing that they would object to it.

He had arrived yesterday morning and spent his time in the garden or the library while he waited for their guest to recover. 

He had hoped they could transport the Feynor birch to Avallon soon, he was glad they managed to find five so quickly, that was a far higher priority than dealing with the recent issue with Hasting. He honestly wished these trees weren't so troublesome.

"I wonder if I should poke around first before trying to get a reaction from Hasting" He wasn't sure how to do that since the Moonshadow elves were already dispatched so he didn't have anyone who could easily sneak into Hasting's mansion. 

"Maybe I should ask Aunt Amaya to let me borrow Corvus or one of his subordinates."

His contemplation was interrupted by the sound of someone retching nearby. He had a pretty good idea of what exactly happened, he picked up his satchel and went to see who the unlucky person was.

\---

Rayla was on her knees gasping while holding her stomach, the contents of her gut pooling in front of her.

she glared at the fruit she'd bitten into, "just what kind of fruit are you?" 

"The kind that you really shouldn't put in your mouth." came a whimsical response, glancing to her side, noticing a human heading her way, he appeared to be around her age, judging by how plain his clothes were, she assumed he worked here. 

He took out a bottle and offered it to her. "Drink this, its it'll help". She wiped the bile off her lips then took it. It tasted sweet and refreshing... that or she thought the fruit was so bad that anything tasted amazing after eating it. 

"Thanks, I needed that," she said as she returned the now empty bottle to him "Just what kind of fruit is that." she asked

"It's not edible in any way, the smell is actually a warning to anything trying to eat it." He said as he looked at her with pity. "If you swallowed the fruit then chances are you'd be vomiting till your body loses an excessive amount of water, not a pleasant situation." 

After some time she finally managed to recover. They were sitting under a tree some distance from the small waterfall "Thanks again, I owe you.. I'm Rayla by the way"

"Ah, so you're the one aunt Janai mentioned, I'm Callum," he introduced himself.

She panicked after learning she was being casual with someone from the royal family.  
"My Prince I'm so sorry for being so rude I though because of your clothes, I mean because" 

"My clothes? whats wrong with my clothes?" he wasn't sure where she was going with this.

"Nothing, their modest, I mean they look great, they truly bring out your lovely eyes," she said, internally cursing at how she kept bungling this. She heard stories that nobles didn't take kindly to not being shown due respect. 

"ok, take a deep breath and calm down cause I have no idea what your even talking about," he said not sure what to make of this.

After a few minutes, she finally managed to regain her composure.  
"I'd like to apologize for not showing you your due respect your highness and hope you can forgive my lack of decorum." She maintained a calm demeanor as she lowered her head yet internally she was still a nervous wreck. She hoped he'd overlook her blunder.

"pfft ahahahaha, thats it? gahahahaha that was what you were panicking about" she looked at him confused, she was expecting some kind of warning.

"If I honestly cared for such nonsense don't you think I would've introduced myself self as the prince or said something about my status." 

"But I" she wasn't sure what to make of his response

"If it makes you feel better then I hereby use my royal authority to grant you permission to talk to me casually forever with no regard to our statuses because I really don't want to do this often," he said, hoping she would finally calm down, "or would you prefer I dress according to my station and do a formal ceremony for this?."

"No, I mean thank you your high... I mean Callum." He raised an eyebrow before she managed to correct herself. 

"Umm your clothes, they don't look like,"

He just shrugged indifferently, "Like a prince? I was adopted into the royal family and I grew up up without being tended to every hour on the hour so its not really of any importance to me." 

She was relieved to hear him say that, and being able to casually talk to a noble meant she didn't worry about accidentally offending him. 

"I hope your stay here has been enjoyable" he quickly changed the subject to something else.

"Are you kidding me? it's like I've died and gone to some hedonistic paradise, the delicious food, the comfy bed and cloths, the hot showers," she kept detailing how wonderful they all were. He couldn't blame her since his reaction was the same when he first came to the castle. 

"I'm glad you find human cuisine to your liking."

"Hey, you'd find cooked food of any kind to be delicious if you've had to cook cheap and bland food for three months" she retorted, "I wish they sold moonberries in the market."

"Well then I have good news for you." He said gesturing to the bushes nearby that were filled with moon berries. Rayla happily dived into it and started gobbling them up at a furious pace.

"hmmm Have you considered savoring the taste?" he asked almost rhetorically.

"I AM savoring them, the more berries I eat, the more of them I can savor," she said as she continued to devour them. After finishing them all she was lying on the grass purring in content.

"I take it it's been a while," he asked wondering how she'd compare to his brother's Jellytart addiction.

"yes it has... that reminds me, how long am I going to be here?" She enjoyed staying here but she knew it wouldn't last.

"Why? do you have somewhere you need to be?" he asked.

"Yea, I need to talk to my landlord about delaying payment and I need to look for work," she said, not looking forward to going back to her old life.

"Easily taken care of" He merely waved the issue dismissively "I'll have your rent canceled for three years and regarding work, the militia is looking for recruits so you can try there."  
He knew his father wouldn't have a problem with him doing this since the rent of a single person wouldn't even amount to a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.

Her jaw was hanging open as she stared in disbelief. She was wondering just how much influence the prince had to casually do something like that. 

But she quickly began happily crunching the numbers in her head, "that means I'll end up saving 5,000 copper every month so I'll save around 180,000 copper or 180 silver or 1 gold and 80 silver over the next three years" If this was a dream then she swore she'd kill anyone who dared to wake her up. 

Callum on the other hand groaned, he was looking at the ground as his shoulders slumped.

"hey whats wrong?" she asked

"I'm just desparing about just how troublesome this viscounty is," his voice was low, 

"refuegees have their rent reduced to 500 copper a month for an entire two years to help them build a new life... well don't worry about it, I'll deal with your landlord soon enough and you'll get you're money back. . . .Sometimes I just plain hate my life."

"Wait if my rents was a giant fruad then does that mean my security deposit is also?"

"and the good news just keeps coming." he exclaimed in a depressed tone. 

"Don't worry my sad Prince, I'll drag my landlord here for you" She saw no reason not to, considering her money problems would be solved.

"After we've finished dealing with the matter of the caravan you were with."

"Ok so what'd you want to know?" she asked

"We can discuss that inside." He said, getting up and heading back to the mansion with Rayla following him, she was curious as to what they might want to ask her.

They didn't notice that they were being watched from the rooftop by someone.

\---

She and Callum entered a room and noticed a Tidebound elf sitting in an armchair reading some documents. His clothes were aesthetically resembled tight fitting clothes Tidebound elves usually wore yet had a distinct Katolian feel to it. In front of him was a glass table with drinks and pastries.

"Ah Callum what can I.. oh you must be Rayla, its a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is Vaeril," he said

"The Reaper?!" she asked,

"The one and only, now have a drink and some pastries to calm your nerves then we can proceed to business," he said almost indifferently while she was astonished as to how one of the greatest heroes of Xadia was here. She glanced at Callum wondering just what kind of connection these two shared.

After a few minutes, she finally managed to calm down.

"Lets begin, when you took the job to escort the caravan, at any point did your group have any meeting with anyone that looked to be a wealthy merchant or noble or anyone unusual?" Vaeril asked, she felt her body grow cold under his gaze that she had forgotten to even breathe, it was like looking straight at death.

"No" she managed to answer

"and the cargo, did you join before or after they were already loaded?"

"After"

"Did they tell you what was in these?" He took out a metal can from under the table.

She shook her head and replied "They told me it was food, jewelry, and small sculptures" 

"Was there anything odd about the people you were with?"

"Just that they were in a hurry to get back."

"Where were you raised?"

She was stunned, she didn't understand why he was asking her that, "The Silvergrove" she managed.

"Tell me, was your training complete??"

To which she nodded, she suddenly felt scared. He glanced at Callum who seemed to consider then nodded to Vaeril.

"That'll be all for now," he said and went back to reading his documents, She felt relief washing over her now that she was no longer under his gaze.

"Callum, just what is going on?" she asked, fearing what his answer will be.

"We have a job for you if you are interested" was all he said.

\---

Around midnight within the Erdus Dukedom, the city of Zrosa was woken up by the sudden blaring of sirens everywhere.

A pair of city guards who were about to end their shift came running, they stopped as they saw their friend, 

"Hadrian, whats going on?" they asked.

"Those infernal terrorists have broken into a munitions depot and took hostages." Hadrian said and his face boiled with anger. He recently got promoted so he was now their superior.

"What?! the legion?!" they turned to look in the direction of the warehouse, it was almost half a kilometer away. 

"We can't handle them on our own." the other said, Hadrian was repeatedly opening and closing his fist like he was trying to grab something in the air.

"You're right of course, this looks like a job for..." Hadrian said, his tone filled with anticipation.

"The central guard" one of them finished Hadrian's sentence then tried to call in backup.

"... ELECTRO!! WEDGIE!!!!!!" 

"HUH?!" they said in shocked unison as they were suddenly overcome by an intense jolt of pain, all they managed to hear as they were losing consciousness was the sound of fabric tearing from being stretched.

Hadrian stood there laughing, the palms of his hand crackled with electricity.

"can't believe how easy its gotten" his tone changed to that of pure mischievous joy. He heard the sound of footsteps in the distance heading his way.

"Oh well, a professional trouble marker's work is never done" the corner of his lips moved upwards forming a toothy grin.

Two hours later,  
A male Moonshadow elf appeared out of the darkness, "Seriously honey, don't you think this is going overboard?" These guards may be the enemy but as a fellow man he couldn't help but feel sympathy for their constant humiliation by her hands, as he looked around he saw many guards were lying unconscious, all of them had their underwear pulled over their heads. 

"Hey, its either this or broken bones," Hadrian said as he shrugged, his body began to shimmer as the illusion was dispelled, revealing a female elf. 

"So did you find what Vaeril asked for?" she asked, he nodded as he held up a book.

"Good, now lets get out of here," she said as the warehouse exploded. They quickly began to make their way back, he hoped no more guards would suffer tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could it be that was watching Callum and Rayla, what kind of scandal will this turn into... find out next time on dragonball... WAIT WRONG STORY!  
> \----
> 
> Vaeril gets his own theme music, I'll link that in a future chapter  
> 
> 
> \---  
> I wanted to make this elf do something besides killing the guards so I spent a whole day pondering then remembered watching The Mask in my youth.
> 
> This video sums it up AHAHAHAHA!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1sqT--uPSM
> 
> The central guard are like a SWAT team. 
> 
> \---  
> Rayla panicked because despite how often we see stories showing it happen, in reality most citizens never meet with royalty or nobles in person, its always with an intermediary or a convoluted spiderweb of intermediaries. So to regular people they are like existences that wields great power and are beyond their reach.
> 
> \---
> 
> The land is owned by the govt, it is rented to others to build on and the govt expects rent from them. If you build apartments to rent to others, then the govt rent is factored into it, also the rent is legally required to include things like electricity, water, heating etc because Harrow was really pissed off when he found out that some people were charging tenants for things their rent didn't cover. 
> 
> water, electricity and heating is also provided by the govt so the only really thing landlords spend on is maintenance... basically if the govt says a person or group shouldn't pay more than X or pay zero then the govt is basically just negating the tax, and can easily cover the maintenance and overhead costs which is rather low to begin with.
> 
> property taxes don't really exist for regular people since their houses and stuff aren't worth enough to justify taxing them, they are for people who posses a lot of wealth.. well lets just say they are very much like the tax-dodgers in our world. 
> 
> If you want to tax people, then consider who has money and who doesn't. 
> 
> \---
> 
> 1 Gold Coin = 100 Silver Coins  
> 1 Silver coin = 1,000 Copper coins
> 
> This rate is fixed within all nations, Every nation agreed to this over 178 years ago after a massive economic crisis where their currency deflated by a lot amongst other stuff before things stabilized. The amount of metal used in each coin is also fixed. 
> 
> In a city the rent can range from 6,000 to 25,000 depending on the place.  
> outside the major cities its 6,000 copper or lower.
> 
> the average food expenditure per person is somewhere around 22 copper per meal (this only takes into account what we might consider middle class)  
> the lowest you can go is 11-15 copper per meal if you keep everything to the cheapest, so here's Rayla's expected spending range
> 
> Does anyone remember the episode where any page, tome, scroll that mentions Aaravos suddenly goes blank? well similar magic is used to prevent any counterfeiting of currencies.  
> so if you managed to make a perfect copy of Katolis or any nation's currency you'll notice the coins and banknotes inexplicably start to deform.
> 
> Using magic you can turn create stuff like metals so Gold and silver aren't all that valuable anymore since you can make some via some hocus pocus. The only reason nations don't produce a lot of gold all the time is because all that magic is better spent on making other materials that have more practical applications so mass producing gold is kind of a low priority.  
> Make a mountain of gold to fill the vaults or make a mountain of iron because the navy needs to repair their ships... kinda obvious where this goes.
> 
> A mage can only use this spell once a day and there is an upper limit to quantity. Lets imagine that limit is 1 tone... there is nothign a mage can do to change that limit. So the total daily capacity depends on how many capable mages you have at your disposal. Also this is pretty high level magic and very few mages exist that are capable of it as it takes five to six years to master.
> 
> When I came up with this idea, I didn't realize that I had inadvertently solved the problem of garbage disposal.. I'm throwing in sewage as well because it can now be used for something besides bio-gas and fertilizer production. 
> 
> Also agricultural lands are completely owned by the govt. Duren is actually the largest exporter of food by a huge margin so prices can't rise unless they stop exporting so much food. Lands for cash crops aren't owned by the govt, but plenty of regulations exist.  
> This is because during the economic downturn nearly 2 centuries ago, one factor was that most farmers outside of Duren were focused on cash crops. 
> 
> Now Del Bar is a nation thats extremely rich in mineral wealth, so this magic has less significance there until all their mines run dry which is a long ways off.  
> This magic has greater significance for nations that rely heavily on trade i.e Evenere, Neolandia, and Esteria.


	3. The Darkness of the Dukedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla's learns what her job his
> 
> Then we go look at the current state of affairs within the dukedom. 
> 
> Also there are some hints buried in this chapter, so good luck trying to figure them out.
> 
> I've made a map so people can know where what is, its my re-imagining of the show's map because leaving it as it is wouldn't work for my story.  
> https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png  
> Having drafts for multiple chapters ready means my only job is editing, editing rewriting and editing several dozens of times and making sure everything follows the rules I set out.

"Whats the job?" Rayla asked

"We'd like you to infiltrate Hasting's office and acquire some copies of his documents, we'll give you the tools and information you'll need to carry it out and we'll also take care of any lose ends." Callum answered her.

"why me?" she asked.

"Because all the other Moonshadow elves have already been dispatched on different missions so you're all I got. In the end it's your choice but if it counts you'll be paid two gold for it." He said.

The last part struck her like lightning. She realized Callum knew just where to poke and prod to make her more likely to agree while still giving her the final say in it all. 

"Deal." she said, she ain't turning down money, plus he said they'll deal with any loose ends.

"We'll get you your equipment and deal with he paperwork when we head to the capital, weapons come later."

"When do we head out?" she asked,

"Nine days from now so enjoy yourself till then."

She then proceeded to munch happily on the pastries.  
Callum thought, _"this is both fascinating and adorable"_ he got up and took out a violin from the nearby cabinet and went back to his seat, and began playing.

She immediately recognized the song.

"You were the one playing that song every morning?" she asked. He nodded as he continued to play. She continued eating as quietly as possible while enjoying the music _"Great food while being entertained by royalty, I'm definitely not walking away from this kind of life."_

She noticed Vaeril seemed more relaxed as soon as Callum started playing.

\---  
Frenoria - Capital City of the Erdus Dukedom, one week later

The storekeeper heard someone knocking at his store's door. After first confirming the time and making sure his appearance was presentable, he went straight to receive the patron. There was only one person that would arrive at his bakery an hour before opening.

"Your Grace, Lord Richard Belmont, I trust you had a pleasant morning," he said in greeting, bowing his head. The man wore a green long-sleeved, open jacket that covered up to his waist with white trimmings and a finely made dark silk shirt.  
His pants are simple and a comfortable fit, and reached down to his hard leather boots. The boots are made from high-quality leather but are otherwise not any different from others. He noticed the dirt that clung to those boots.

"Quite well, I heard you'll be opening a new branch in Zoras next year. I must say Nelson I not sure why you chose a city dedicated to military production but then again I'm not a businessman." 

"You needn't be so humble Your Grace, after all managing the affairs of our great nation requires far greater skills than one in my trade." Nelson said.

"Managing a bloated bureaucracy hardly requires skill, you just need enough staff to not drown in it." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

"This should cover next week's delivery, the children especially loved the orange fillings." He pulled out a promissory note for the amount. Nelson examined it to see if the amount was correct and found it a bit more, which meant he needed to make sure the next delivery went perfectly. 

"I'll shall see you again next week." saying that, he took his leave.

"I'll shall look forward to it, Your Grace." Nelson said as he saw his esteemed guest out. Once the door was closed, he let out a sigh of relief. He was glad the Prime Minister only visited in the early morning, if he came when the store was busy, he'd have to worry about one of the customers accidentally offending him. He didn't know why his store was chosen, but he wasn't going to complain since it began thriving after it became known he was a purveyor to a Duke. 

When he was outside, the coachman was waiting for him holding the carriage door open. After being seated inside, the coachman closed the door then chanted  
"erebros"  
The carriage was enveloped by a faint glow momentarily before they began to move, the magic acted like suspension making the ride as smooth as possible.

" 'great nation' whats nonsense, are these people truly this blind?" Richard muttered under his breath.  
He wondered what was so urgent that Ernest would summon him now of all times. His agents had told him that a munitions warehouse was destroyed a week ago, but that wasn't a problem for them politically or economically. In fact, it was rather fortuitous. 

The Castle was busy with staff ranging from high-ranking officials to average servants running around frantically that most didn't notice the Prime Minister at all, which piqued his curiosity. He picked up his pace.

Archduke Ernest Rannerias was in his office contemplating when he heard a knock from the door.  
"This had better be important, if it's not then I swear I'll" 

"It's me you idiot." came Richard's voice from the other side.

"Oh,.. come on in" the Archduke's face momentarily flushed with embarrassment after remembering that it was he who summoned Richard to come quickly.

He entered the room, on either side of the door were several bookshelves filled with books on history to works of fiction. The room was quite spacious even with the table and sofas in the middle.

Closing the door he turned to his old friend "Now what is so urgent that you drag me in the middle of my vacation." he said as he made his way to the chair in front of the Archduke's desk.

"This," the archduke said, placing a file on the desk. Richard took a seat then began to read it.

"I already knew this Erney, and that the other Dukes are requesting an emergency meeting to be held within the next 20 days. What I don't know is why you couldn't have waited a week before telling me this, I rarely get enough time to play with the children " Richard said

The Archduke didn't know where his friend kept getting his information from. He'd learned from a young age that Richard always had access to information, personnel, and resources that should be impossible for him yet he did, which was what allowed him to ascend to the throne so easily so to secure his rule he made his friend Prime Minister out of gratitude and fear of what might happen if he didn't repay him. Though Richard knew far more than anyone could possibly imagine, but he had no reason to show his hand.

"I just got an encrypted message from Duke Vanderbilt on the reason for the meeting, they want to speed up preparations for conquering Katolis."

Richard's head crashed into the desk, the sound of teeth-gritting and paper being crushed could be heard clearly. This Richard clearly didn't know _that_ and he genuinely wished he didn't find out about it either.

"Those incompetent fools!!! Just where do they think we'll get the resources to do that." 

They were interrupted by a knock "You called for me Dear?" came a voice from outside, it was the third member of their old circle, the Archduchess Elaine Rannerias. Richard raised his head from the desk, his face still holding on to the anger from a moment ago.

"Come in" was all the Archduke said, knowing that formalities mattered little in this little group.

"Ernest why didn't you tell me Richard would be here?, I'd have ordered us some tea." She said happily as she entered. She looked far younger than her husband by around 25 years.

"Elaine focus, we're gonna hold a council meeting in two days, while we're doing that, I need you to entertain their family and retainers and see if they accidentally let slip any useful information." He said, in a tone that one would expect from a ruler.

She sighed as she stood near the door.  
"You old men have some audacity to ask a youngster such as I to handle these things," 

  
  


"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUNGSTER?! WE'RE PRACTICALLY THE SAME AGE YOU OLD HAG!!!" Ernest protested loudly.

"HOW MUCH SKINCARE MAGIC DO YOU USE, YOU ARTIFICIAL OLD HAG!!!!" Richard joined in without hesitation.

Several large hardcover books came flying at them. All hitting their targets with exceptional accuracy.

"You men are really shameless, after all I'm two years younger than you." she said

"It's just two years"  
"It's only two years"

They tried retorting in unison.

"Very well, consider it taken care of," She said with a malevolent smile before gracefully leaving the two of them to deal with more pressing matters such as nursing their many concussions.

"I still can't believe you fell for that devious brute." Richard said staring at the door.

"That's _my_ devious brute you're talking about!" He smirked, trying to rebuke his friend.

"I am _SO_ impressed" was Richard's response, rolling his eyes with his tone dripping with sarcasm, then he changed the topic back to the meeting. 

"Let's just hope we can keep those war mongering apes in check."

"On that front, we have some good news, Katolis has sent us terms for at least a technological alliance" He placed three pieces of paper, one was already unsealed, the other two were still unread, but one had a black seal instead of the usual red. He now understood why Ernest had ruined his vacation, any message with a black seal would burn to ash within 15 minutes after being unsealed.

They read it, it contained just three sentences "The terms laid in first the document are non-negotiable so you maybe exaggerate them how much you desire before presenting the original terms to make your government agree to them. We will consider your other offer only if the treaty is signed. Prince Tristan has assured me that Del Bar will support Princess Aanya's if she agrees to your terms."

"Well that makes our job a lot easier," Ernest said, tossing the message into the air then snapping his fingers, instantly burning into nothingness as it began to descend.

"That's generous of them," Richard said

He then picked one that contained the seal of the former kingdom of Duren. The message was that the former Princess of Duren would take up the position they offered her if they didn't violate the treaty with Katolis for three years after taking effect.

"That means the terms Katolis sent are crucial to all this." Richard said,

"Here, I'll paraphrase their terms." Ernest said, his face was like a child receiving his years end gifts.

"ahem (1) we have to acknowledge that that we are at fault for the incident all those years ago followed by an official apology and reparation of 1000,000 gold paid over 50 years... no arguments from me."

"the amount is no problem even if it was to be paid within a year so we easily increase it by ten times or more just to annoy the fools in our midst." Richard offered.

" (2) Acknowledging of current national borders... politically a bit problematic but meh." 

"Hardly, this is just removes one casus belli, not all of them but it will give us time." Richard countered.

" (3)Making it punishable for merchants to acquire anything that's illegal in Katolis to sell on the black market there... can't blame them for wanting this.

"that would give us more leeway in reducing the power of those fools."

"And finally, (4) Sealing the breach to Xadia and allowing for Xadian's to return including the ones taking refuge in Katolis."

"Not like we plan to keep the breach open forever... but seriously thats it?" Richard asked, "Just what do they expect in return after selling all these favors?"

Richard already knew all of this but continued acting coy, revealing all his cards was counterproductive to his own goals. He just needed to reveal just enough that everyone else would know their place and act out the roles he wrote for them without drawing too much attention to himself.

"I have no idea," Ernest said happily, "but it won't be cheap if history is anything to go by." Politics worked by giving and taking favors, when the parties involved are nations, what was asked in return would never be something trivial.

This was the best possible scenario for the Archduke who didn't want a war. He had to make good on what Katolis offered. The pacification and occupation of Duren weren't going well, and occupying the Xadian frontier is a costly endeavor. They were stretched far too thin. They needed the technology and expertise of Katolis if the Dukedom was to be stabilized quickly. 

"That just leave the issue of proposing an arranged marriage with Prince Callum to secure peace." Richard said. "Have you managed to convince your granddaughter yet?"

"Amelia is at least open to the idea. Though we'll have to wait for both of them to come of age before trying to push that boat." he said, then took out several photos of her and shoved them at Richard's face. 

Richard just snapped his fingers, a ball of water formed over Ernest before falling on him. "How many times do I have to tell you to not do that." 

"But she's so adorable." Ernest may be an archduke, but he was also an exceptionally doting grandparent. 

\-----

It was dusk within the Dukedom. Richard had arrived at his estate. His butler came to greet him, a true professional, one would consider him to be the perfect butler.

"Welcome back my lord, I trust the interruption to your time with the children weren't a problem," he said while taking his master's coat.

"too problematic, those fools are pushing for war" Not hiding his scorn, he then looked at his butler, knowing that Elliot would never come to greet him unless it was something that required Richard's personal attention.

They walked to Richard's office not saying a word, Elliot went to a bookcase and waved his hand in front of it, the bookcase disappeared, revealing a darkened passageway leading down. 

Richard's mansion was small compared to what other Dukes possessed. The land within the estate was vast and beautiful, but underneath was a different story. It was an underground fortress that was also the most secure location in the entire Dukedom. It was a secret that only those who were loyal to Richard knew.

They entered what looked like an office, Richard sat down at his desk.  
"Report." he ordered

"Regarding the two officers who came close to uncovering the legion's activities, officer Melvin's loyalty has been secured. After a thorough investigation, we found that his five year old son is gravely ill, we have offered to cover the boy's treatment and education so Melvin's future cooperation can be guaranteed. He is completely unaware of who his benefactors are." 

Eliot paused so his master could interject if he found any issues, then Eliot continued his report. 

"As for officer Gavin, we planted false evidence leading him to a corrupt subordinate within General Bernard's ranks, effectively purging an incompetent problem from his side while convincing officer Gavin that the matter had nothing to do with the legion. The General was leaning towards your's and the moderate's faction to begin with, with this our agents within the intelligence agency have made him less susceptible to influence from other factions." 

"Next is the matter of the spies, increasing the number of Alta Magus and Golems have impeded them but they have chosen to wait for an opportunity, we have ensured that an opportunity will be presented to them which will allow them to succeed in a manner that will be beneficial to your goals, my lord" he concluded.

"Tell me what became of the Earthblood elves," Richard asked.

"They managed to slip by with no assistance from us. They have entered Xadia approximately three days ago. The men informed me that our nation's agent's were so pathetic that they weren't even sure if the elves weren't trying and failing to get captured. The 'other' party proved to be a challenge but we succeeded." 

He then took out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and gave it to his master.  
"Here is the information they were carrying, the men copied it while the elves slept."

Richard's lipped formed a smile as he read the information, anyone who didn't know his true nature would've been overwhelmed by fear if they saw his expression, but to his subordinates, it was hardly anything to notice.  
"Good, everything is proceeding according to my script." His smile was genuine, as was the malice that he emitted.

"I believe Duchess Kiera would be most suitable for what you intend to do with this information, preparations are already underway." After many years of service, Eliot had learned to anticipate his master's thoughts and thus was allowed to act as he saw fit. He only had to seek his master's permission and input for matters that demanded his attention.

Richard's expression quickly became stoic.  
"Venderbilt managed to get an encrypted message transmitted to the Archduke,"

Eliot bowed "I shall instruct our agents to find the source and any others in order to rectify this serious blunder on our part."

"See to it" was all Richard said

\----  
Within the Moonshadow Kingdom, Runaan was kneeling in front of the King and Queen.

"You may rise my friend." the king said, and Runaan obeyed. 

A servant came forward with a piece of paper.

"A group of earthblood elves managed to return with that information, read it."  
Runaan began to read it, after rereading it several times to confirm it, then turned to look at the king.

"The Dukedom seeks to form an alliance with Katolis. We'd like your team to deal with it. King Avizandum and the other evlen races have given their approval for this mission. You may requisition any weapons, equipment or personnel you deem necessary, if anyone dares denies you then send them to me, I will personally deal with them." The king said.

"What are my mission objectives?" Runaan said, his tone indicated that he intends to carry out this mission.

"I shall tell you everything," the king said.

Two hours later, The King and Queen sat alone in the throne room, Runaan had just left to prepare for the mission.

"Are you sure he should be the one to go?" the Queen asked

"He lost his niece to the enemy, with this mission he can avenge her and save Xadia, that is what drives him. I'm ashamed to use her memory like this but we have no choice." the king answered. 

"The twins also miss her, at least she won't have to deal with our eldest anymore." the queen said, not hiding her remorse.

"But at the very least she's finally found peace and is no longer tied to the troubles of our world" was the only thing the King said before he lowered his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably make the next chapter or the one after it cover the invasion of Xadia.
> 
> Map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png  
> song Callum is playing is the same one from chapter 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfp5WCl0H88
> 
> I originally wrote the line as "artificial looking old hag" but the extra word felt off for some reason.  
> \----  
> Now to the unnecessarily long info dump. that exists solely so I can avoid expositions.
> 
> Edrus Dukedom:
> 
> It is an oligarchic magocracy. Magocracy means only those with magical abilities have a voice within the government.  
> So Magic = power, status, and wealth.
> 
> The Dukedom was formed over 300 years ago, The empire that preceded it was collapsing, The kingdom of Duren formed prior to the collapse while Katolis was formed by the collapse. After the collapse several mage took over an the people agreed because mages were scholars and people thought smarter people were suited to rule. Which was only partly true, eventually the corrupt kingdom that preceded them was now replaced by a corrupt magical kingdom instead.
> 
> Even without magical abilities, you can still obtain wealth and status. If you are rich, then you can influence those who wield power to get your way... but none magical folk getting some actual power on their own without any help from magical folk? Yeah, not on my watch.  
> Their society values magical ability over wealth and status.
> 
> The dukedom possesses the largest number of mages of any nation which is their main advantage over their rivals.
> 
> Hierarchy within Erdus:
> 
> Arch Magus  
> High Magus  
> Magus Adepta  
> Scolas Magus  
> Alta Magus  
> Magus  
> Apprentice  
> Mage  
> Initiate  
> 1st class citizen  
> 2nd class citizens
> 
> 2nd class citizens: people who have problems such as debts they can't pay, created some legal problems, etc. This only happens when they can't pay the penalty imposed and the issue isn't enough to justify throwing them in prison though they regain all their rights with 2-4 years. 
> 
> 1st class Citizens: Regular folk, usually the non-magic kind.
> 
> Initiate: People who have passed basic tests and show an aptitude for magic. They are legally still considered a 1st class citizen.
> 
> Mage: A person who has a legal license to practice magic in a limited capacity in a specific field. 
> 
> Apprentice: An initiate that's a Scholas Magus has taken to teach personally. Legally a citizen but given some privileges. 
> 
> Magus: a Mage but with broader magic usage rights.
> 
> Atla Magus: A Magus who has proven themselves to be superior in a specific capacity. Can join any local governmental agency.
> 
> Scholas Magus: An Atla that's devoted to the research and development of magic. 
> 
> Magus Adepta: a mage that has specialized in one or more branches of magic with such expertise and produced exemplary results. They also can prevent a law from being passed and can bring one up to be changed more easily.
> 
> High Magus: A rank required to sit on any major decision-making body within the national government. They are the ones who generally write and pass laws as long as no Magus Adepta objects to its passing, provided it is their field of expertise. 
> 
> Arch Magus: Only a Magus Adepta can attain this rank. They are the most influential and powerful mages around. This rank is a requirement if one seeks to join the council of Magi, which is functionally the Executive Branch of Erdus.  
> ....  
> Archdukes and Duke's are all ranked as Arch Magus. 
> 
> Arch Duke: The sovereign ruler of the dukedom. The archduke has less power than a king
> 
> Prime Minister is usually a high mage.
> 
> Mages can range from doctors or any field, mage soldiers are different in that they use spells for combat. Give them a gun, and suddenly they start shooting tiny grenades.
> 
> \----------
> 
> Ernest, Richard, Elaine and Richard's late wife were childhood friends. They only maintain formalities when other people are around.  
> The previous Archduke was killed by his son Ernest who realized his father's expansion policy would collapse the dukedom. This happened after Ernest's son and daughter along with Richard's wife were killed in battle.  
> The expansion policy then involved creating civil unrest in neighboring nations and annexing them when they were vulnerable and the wars were costly
> 
> Ernest prefer invasions when there was little to no downsides and plans to do it all slowly and correctly.


	4. Set in Motion.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla learns stuff :)  
> there is music
> 
> We also take a brief look at some other nations.  
> map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png
> 
> This chapter takes place the day after Rayla learns what her job is but before the other stuff with richard and ernest takes place.  
>    
> Harmonica version  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqexreSWRE8
> 
> song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkCKdc8oHn8

Rayla quietly opened the door to find Callum talking on what he said was called a telephone.  
"yes, the five feynor birch are in the back of the garden. They'll be prepped for transport by then." 

Remembering that was what he'd called those trees, and shuddered at the memory of that horrible taste.

She finally managed to get some traditional Moonshadow elf clothes, well they were made by her people who currently reside in Katolis. 

She plopped herself on the sofa to wait for him to finish talking to whoever was on the other end, she didn't know how this _"technology"_ stuff worked but she'd figure it out eventually. She noticed his sketchbook lying there and decided to take a look. She was surprised to find that it filled with detailed sketches, ranging from portraits to scenery.  
He eventually finished his phone call and turned to find Rayla sitting on the sofa looking at his sketchbook.

"You're good," Rayla said, as she kept going through Callum's sketchbook. 

"So I take it you're the one responsible for all these?" she said, waving towards all the paintings in the room.

"Most of them, though I've still can't draw Xadian scenery until I've actually seen the place." He said, his face a bit red as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll be blunt, if you can draw Xadia this well based on what people describe then you should just quit being royalty and be an artist full time."

"Well my art does sell for quite a bit so I'll need to hire an elven body guard for my safety ," he said, looking at her with a smirk.

She went over to one of the armor sets and took its helmet then put it on, then kneeled in front of him "Your safety will be assured my sad yet artistic prince." Her voice was deep.

"You have proven yourself worthy of your generous compensation," he said, posing like some arrogant plump nobleman. 

"I'm unworthy of such lavish prai... pfft." she said before both of them collapsed laughing. 

"phew... so did you need anything?," he asked after managing to recover from her most recent antics which were a welcomed distraction from his responsibilities. 

"yes, do you have any music sheets for a harmonica?" she said as she showed him the harmonica she got from the music room.

"Sure, they are in another room, come on... so why only the harmonica?" he said leading the way.

She shrugged and said. "It's the only one I know how to play. So why does this place have so many chandeliers?" the amount this place had was just too much.

"The guy who owned this place sixty years ago was running from an assassin, he shot his revolver randomly in fear and one of the shots hit the rope for a chandelier which then fell on top of his would be killer." 

She giggled at this "So then he started worshiping these things?"

"The only thing he didn't do was change his name despite everyone expecting him to," he said

"pfft ahahahahahahaha I can see that, Lord Chandelier of House Chandelier, prophet of the supreme chandelier ahahahahahaha!" she couldn't contain herself.

"Say what's so special about those evil tasting trees that you urgently need to move them or are they part of secret Katolian delicacy?" she asked,.

"those trees are what allows humans to use magic without a primal stone or harming any Xadians." he said

"What? How? I thought Dark magic needed a lot more" she didn't understand this.

"the sap from that tree is the main component for making a special material called etherium, it absorbs primal energy from around which we can harness to fuel spell, it maybe far less potent bit its the morally correct way of doing it. I never really liked the idea of taking the life of another to caste a spell. " He said

She was glad to hear that his views were similar to how Xadian's viewed dark magic but that left another question.  
"If its less powerful then."

"then how do we manage? we eventually managed to improve the effectiveness of our spells, but that also means that if we use innocent Xadians then it would be immensely powerful," he said, his tone made it clear he wasn't exaggerating. She understood now how the human forces were able to easily defeat the Xadian expeditionary force.

"So where are you taking it if its so important?" she asked

"To an island off the coast, its where the majority of our feynor birch are located and its protected by our fleets." She felt that he was about o say more but stopped, she figured someone of her standing wouldn't be allowed to know more than necessary. 

They kept talking till they arrived at a room. there were no instruments inside but he went over to a cabinet, opened it, and began sorting through several sheets of paper. "Here's you go, these are all for harmonica's."

"thanks, are any of these like the one you keep playing?" she asked.

"It's called the _Whereabouts of Light._ ," he said, she quickly found it among the sheets he gave her.

"It was my mother's favorite song." 

"Your mother.. oh, I'm so sorry," She remembered that Queen Sarai died in an incident involving the dukedom. That made the dukedom's army stop their advance and headed back to the breach in fear Katolis would retaliate which allowed Xadia to regroup and mount a proper defense, many proclaimed it was a miracle as the lives of many innocents were saved as a result. But there was no way she couldn't say that to him.

None of them said a word as they headed back.  
\-----  
At a similar time in Neolandia 

Former King Ahling was happily walking across the palace and saw his daughter-in-law.  
"Evelyn" He called out as he made his way to her.

"What is it sire," she said, she bowed in greeting

"How many times must I say this, we are family now, so you can call me father, dad, papa," He said affectionately. He had to abdicate because of his health though he wished to wait a few more years before pushing the throne onto Kasef. 

"I'll try... fa-father," she said, trying to hide her embarrassment, Ahling smiled at her.  
"How are you adjusting to your new life here?" he asked

"I am able to adjust somewhat, though I'm still not used to this weather I'm afraid."

"that's alright, take as much time as you need. If you ever miss your birth family then you can visit them, our nations share close ties now... also if my son or anyone causes you any trouble, come to me I will personally straighten them out." His tone was serious. 

Many had objections to the political marriage between her and Kasef but he wouldn't stand for anyone harming his children even if that threat was from his own family. 

Some of them had valid reasons for their objections but they needed this treaty with Erdus to obtain their technology for airship manufacturing or risk falling behind the other nations. His nation also shared trade agreements with Evenere so he couldn't form a treaty with Katolis without jeopardizing that. He felt like he had failed as a king and was merely passing his failures to his son and his people.

At the very least he wanted to make sure she would be able to live a happy life in her new homeland. No, he would ensure it, he corrected his thoughts.

\-----

In the Estarian Confederacy, Chairman Vincent Rosenthal was reading the encrypted message that he'd received from Katolis.

"So the offer of alliance was sent to Erdus." His face was grim. 

He turned to his advisor "Make sure to notify the _'dancers'_ of this development through the _usual_ channels."

The advisor bowed then left to carry out his task.

"There is no turning back after this." Vincent said then slumped in his chair, he'd hoped this gamble would succeed.

He then dialed up the admiralty. "This is Chairman Rosenthal, I've received word that Katolis will be delivering those ships to us ahead of schedule, make sure to prepare enough personnel to crew them the moment they arrive."

One of the terms of their alliance was that Katolis would hand over to them any ship they plan to decommission after removing any technology that was classified as a state secret. This allowed the confederacy to maintain a larger fleet with ease.

Without their alliance with Katolis, the Confederacy would become the final piece of Evenere's trade empire.

His nation's fate now depended on whether or not they would accept Katolis's offer for an alliance. 

\-----

After four days of constant practice, she had finally managed to learn _The Whereabouts of Light_.  
Callum was sitting nearby clapping, saying how good it was, she smiled and felt her face warm-up for some reason. 

She bowed then asked "You told me this song originally involved multiple instruments right? well care to join?"

He went to get his violin and took out a small box, she eyed it curiously. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a music player, let me just set the instrumental recordings." he said as he pressed a few buttons on it, 

"My mother made a few recordings of her singing, I figured you should be a part of this since you've been putting in so much effort" 

"Thank you" was all she said, she knew this song meant a lot to him so she had to give it her best. He then took his violin and waited for it to begin.

The music of a piano came from the small box filling the entire room.

They both started playing as soon as the vocals began.

" _Shadows that you cast, like the stars above  
Leave without a trace once morning light has come  
Where you are right now, I’ve not a single clue  
But still I cannot stop thinking of you_"

_Times that I lost hope, times that I stood tall  
In our journey here, my heart has seen it all  
So as long as you had been standing by my side  
I knew that I would always be alright_

_Think back to the times when I was with you  
There was nothing that we couldn’t do_

She found the late queen's voice to be so beautiful. The song made her remember being with her own parents.

_There is not a truth, nor a single lie  
In the simple fact that day comes after night  
Even when the darkness fades into morning light  
I’ll always recognize the glow you left behind_

_All this time, I’d been dreaming by myself  
In a made-up land where no one says farewell  
Too naive to see what was reflected in your eyes  
I wonder what the world you saw was like_

_Think back to the times when you were with me  
Nobody can take those memories_

_Whether it be pain, whether it be fear  
Know that if you need me, I am always here  
If only I could see eye to eye again with you  
Then anything we dream for can come true_

_See the rising sun bring a brand new day  
Open up and feel the gentle winds of change  
Thinking of your voice and your warmth, our everyday  
I close my eyes and feel myself in your embrace_

She had never seen him so peaceful before. This song was all he had left of his mother, she was glad Calum wanted to share this with her. 

_Memories of us in my heart and mind  
Let them all be free in this never ending sky  
Even when the darkness fades into morning light  
I’ll always recognize the glow you left behind_

_I will always love you until the very end  
I trust that fate will lead me back to you again… _

When the song ended she finally allowed herself to relax and let the moment wash all over her.  
She then turned to face him only to see him standing motionless, his were eyes closed it was almost like he was still listening to his mother's singing. She stood there waiting, not wanting to take this moment away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harmonica version  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqexreSWRE8
> 
> Sarai's song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkCKdc8oHn8
> 
> \------------  
> The Dukdom proposed an intermarital alliance with Neolandia offering them expertise in airship manufacturing which they badly needed, with this the dukedom had some influence over Neolandia's politics. Airships allow for faster travel of goods within their desert nation.
> 
> they also produce a lot of spices, cotton, silk, dyes, handicraft and other products for export.
> 
> \-----  
> The Estarian Confederacy is a coalition of small island nations situated between Katolis and Evenere, making it of strategic importance. The Confederacy has a unified military and legal code though each member state is permitted to act with autonomy so long as the confederate laws are followed.  
> Due to conflicts with Evenere, they formed a mutual defense and economic pact with Katolis to ensure their independence though they are technically in a subordinate position to Katolis. 
> 
> Terms of the Pact (paraphrased short version because I'm too lazy to think any more on this)
> 
> 1\. Mutual Defense  
> (1a)  
> To initiate a military conflict with another state then prior notification of intent to do so must be sent to member states before the start of hostilities.  
> (1b) Internal conflicts of members are exempt from this.  
> (1c) Both nations renounce the right to wage war against each other  
> (1d) All decommissioned vessels will be transferred to The Estarian Confederacy after removal of any material or equipment that is a state secret of Katolis.
> 
> 2\. Access to territory and port.  
> (2a) Commercial vessels are granted access to all commercial ports.  
> (2b) Military vessels are permitted to patrol within each other's maritime borders.  
> (2c) Military ports and key sensitive areas are off-limits unless designated otherwise.  
> (2d) Confederate entities: Military, Political, Civilian or commercial are not permitted to enter [Avallon] without prior authorization and escort by Katolis.  
> (2e) Right to authorize entry is retained by each nation.
> 
> 3\. Trade, Tariffs, and Aid  
> (3a) Changes to tariff rates cannot take effect till 90 days after informing members nations of the change  
> (3b) A Uniform tariff rate shall be established for Katolis with the Confederate member states.  
> (3c)Transport and exchange of [Etherium] during a war are restricted to member nations or nations are allied with both member nations in the conflict.  
> (3d) Humanitarian Aid is exempt from tariffs or restrictions but are subject to inspection by specified authorities.
> 
> \----
> 
> Evenere is a nation comprising multiple large islands. Due to being islands they posses less natural resources than other nations (except the confederacy who are far smaller than them) so they are reliant on naval trade. They developed sea routes and patrolled them to ensure all naval trade passed through them.
> 
> They maintain a small army however their navy is the largest within the human kingdoms. Comprising of 70 Heavy Battleships, 46 Battle-cruisers, 88 Cruisers, 60 Destroyers, and 40 Submarines. Most of these are docked so that their crews are running with the merchant fleet instead (I'm still playing around with the numbers)
> 
> They also maintain a 300 strong armed merchant fleet that can partially converted into frigates, and 40 large dedicated merchant ships.
> 
> When war breaks out then the crews return to the docked ships, they also have 50 previous era battleships docked in reserve effectively bringing their total battleships to 120. 
> 
> They also posses 59 Airships for military purposes and 106 for trade. Though airships cannot compete with the cargo capacity of a ship.
> 
> Evenere seeks to annex the Confederacy in order to to be able to exert full control over all naval trade to secure its naval empire.
> 
> They currently receive a large amount of Etherium and food cheaply from the Dukedom. 
> 
> The current Heavy battleships are Evenere's attempt to increase their firepower which rendered all previous battleship designs obsolete. The irony is that it impacted them worse because they just nullified the 50 battleships they possessed. The new designs focus on putting as much heavy long range guns as possible.
> 
> The navy has great influence within Evenere as they can influence in selecting the next ruler, the king or queen often marry someone from the navy. In this case the current queen is married to an admiral.


	5. To the Capital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes are traveling to the capital while stuff happens in the capital.
> 
> map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png

Katolis City.

Within the Governmental district, Viren held an eyedropper over him, wincing each time the liquid made contact with his eyes, The potion was extremely difficult to make with several failures along the way.  
Around him, several people were preparing for whats to occur next. Nearby was a see-through window made of reinforced glass connected to another room. Inside was a pedestal with an unusual cube, everything about it remains a mystery with no lore to even reference it. It is surrounded by an array of different machines with thick conduits leading to the other room.

"Are you ready?" An older woman said, standing next to him. Her name was Agatha Enneas, she was Viren's mentor and currently the most knowledgeable mage in Katolis.

"I am," Viren said, still wincing as his eyes turned pitch black. He then stood in front of the reinforced window peering at the cube and chanted,  
"Neddih si tahw laever eye gniees eurt."

"Begin" was all she said as the machines began to glow and emit energy. The runes for each element on the cube began to glow in response to elemental nature of the primal elemental energy directed towards it.

"Primal Energy output is at 20% and rising steadily, no anomaly detected," one person said as he looked over his instruments. 

Three minutes later, "Output is at 100%, beginning darkened energy infusion," said the man. Suddenly purple lightning struck the cube from all sides.

Viren kept his eyes on it hoping for something to happen, but as the minutes wore on he ordered the experiment to stop.

He and Agatha went back, those that remained looked over the data trying to see if there was anything different from the previous attempts.

"It seems it won't respond to anything but Prince Callum." He said.

"Yes, but why? Is the Prince just unique or was it due to specific conditions we are unaware of? She said.

"Maybe it was due to the specific spell that struck the Prince combined with the period of time before the cube came into play." Viren said.

" It is called the _Key'_ of Aaravos, so it maybe a possibility that the Prince already had the ability to perform primal magic but it was merely dormant.." she offered while deep in thought.

"Still, who is this Aaravos, why are all mentions of him are automatically erased?" she said, wondering what this elf even did that his existence had to be hidden from the world. None of the elves she talked to, not even Vaeril had ever even heard of that name.

\-------------------------

In a bedroom within the castle, the room reverberated with the sound of stones grinding against each other. From under the bed emerged a yellow glow toad followed a blue dragon and finally the Crown Prince.

"Good job you two. I'd say this was our fastest escape yet" he said.

"So how'd the heist go?" a voice came from behind him.

"It went without a hitch!" Ezran said proudly "WAIT!" he recognized the voice and turned around quickly only to be pulled into a tight hug.

"Dad, why are you in my room?" he said while hugging back. Zym decided to join in.

"I came to check on you and found you were gone so I decided to wait for you. How did you know about these secret tunnels?" Harrow said as he ruffled his son's hair. 

"Callum showed me, he said he'd found them a month or two after he moved into the castle."

"haha and here I was planning to tell you both about these tunnels next year... according to legend they were built by the Orphan Queen." he said as he let his son go.

"Really?" Ezran asked while bait looked disinterested and Zym was curious as ever.

Harrow laughed "yes, she was said to be quite eccentric, no one knows why she built these tunnels or how far they go. They say she hid vast treasures, magical items, and even locked away monsters inside them though no one has been able to find any." though he now worried his son might go explore them more often now that he told him about this.

"And on the topic of your brother, he'll be arriving in a couple of hours. Princess Aanya and Prince Preston will arrive tomorrow" Harrow said.

"Really?!" The young prince said, his eyes were beaming with joy but then his expression changed which harrow noticed.  
"Hey dad," He asked, his eyes now appeared a bit hesitant "why do people still call Callum a "spare"?"

"Who exactly are they?" he asked making sure not to reveal his sudden surge of anger.

"It was Count Gaincel, I heard him talking to a bunch of nobles about Callum being given his title." he said, his face making his feelings quite clear.

Harrow internally facepalmed, he should have known it was them. 

"Just ignore them, their too hardheaded to think beyond their narrow views of the world. I'll deal with them somehow." he said, he swore he would. Gaincel's little group was a particular thorn in his side that he intended to deal with. So far, his investigations haven't found anything that would be enough to dissolve their houses. He was hoping Callum might've had better luck.

"Callum told me he'll be staying in the capital for the rest of the year and won't be leaving unless its important, so you kids can spend time enjoying yourselves." He said,  
Ezran was so happy that he didn't realize that he was crushing Bait who was turning purple due to asphyxiation.

They continued to talk for some time before Harrow had to leave. Ezran turned to his companions and said "Alright, time to explore these tunnels to find some treasure."

Bait merely grunted with disinterest while Zym excitedly ran around in circles. 

\-----------  
Back in Rimemere.

Rayla watched the heavily armed airship as it was descending towards the mansion. She had occasionally seen them soaring in the sky, but this would be her first time seeing them up close and getting on one. 

For both Callum and Vaeril, the novelty of an airship descending had worn off long ago, so they were busy discussing other matters. But for her, the only thing she had for comparison to this experience was when dragons flew to the Silvergrove. 

The airship landed in the courtyard. A boarding ramp extended, and a man in a bright white uniform exited the ship making his way toward the prince and greeted him with a salute, and began telling him of their schedule among other things.

After several minutes had passed they all entered the airship, she wondered which part of the ship offered the best view outside but decided it was probably not a good idea to explore a military vessel on her own, so she went with Callum because the only other person she could talk to onboard was the incarnation of death itself sitting in the other room. 

After thirty minutes, the airship began to rise. She was nervous for several minutes knowing that the floor under her feet was the only thing keep her from a several kilometers long drop. Callum spent a good amount of time just calming her down.  
She went over to the window and peered outside with her face pressed against it. She felt like she could see the whole world from up there. She was told the journey wouldn't take more than a few hours which was astonishing since walking to the capital would take several weeks.

"So how does this thing work? you said you'd tell me after we get on board." She asked, 

He smiled as he put his book down and began to explain. "In simple terms, an airship is just a magic-powered balloon, the inside is filled with a gas called Helium which is lighter than air."

"Wait thats it? this thing flies because it has this helium inside?" she asked

"Well yes and no, The helium by itself isn't enough, so we use magic to increase its lift capacity. Otherwise, we'd need more helium or have to remove the armor, weapons and downsize everything else." He said trying to keep things simple but he was interrupted by a beeping, he pressed a button and a voice came through. "Your highness, I wish to inform you that lunch will be severed in the starboard viewing area in 20 minutes and that Sir Vaeril will not be joining you this after noon." 

He turned it off and turned to her  
"I trust your apatite has recovered from earlier?" he said to her as he got up.

"I'd never turn down food," she said as she followed him out.

"YOU are probably the biggest glutton I've ever met," he said rolling his eyes.

"Hey, its your fault that I'm surrounded by such delicious food these days." she said, pretending to glare at him.

"Guilty as charged," he said.

"So why does this warship have a viewing area?" she asked. It didn't really make sense for a warship to have one.

"Its not a dedicated warship, its meant to transport the royal family and other important people." he explained, remembering that all this stuff is still new to her.

"Oh, so I am an important person now?" she said.

"Indeed you are, after all the ambassador from the kingdom of gluttony shouldn't be delayed from her next meal," he bowed to her in response.

they continued their banter till they arrived at their destination taking the table closest to the edge where there was a large glass window to see outside. They had a excuisit five course meal brought to them though Rayla ended up ordering seconds and thirds while Callum took his time.

"This is what I call a view. Seriously, you rich people have all the fun stuff." she said as she was finishing off her dessert which consisted of cake and ice cream.

"Well we will be starting our own passenger service for civilians after we find a way to make it affordable." He said

"Yeah but will it have any of these?" gesturing to all the opulence that surrounded them.

"Nope, that would make it unaffordable." he conceded. 

"I rest my case. So how'd you ever meet someone like Vaeril? that's not classified is it?" she'd been wondering about this for days now.

"I met him after I was kidnapped by the dukedom" the happiness was now gone from his voice.

"Wait if you were kidnapped then shouldn't Katolis have declared war on the Dukedom?," she asked, this was becoming more confusing, 

"They made it look like I died and with a bit of political theater and their massive military they managed to convince my dad that full scale war was a bad idea." He said, she could detect a bit of frustration in his voice.

"It was during that time that I met Vaeril, we caused a lot of chaos for over two years before we managed to escape to Katolis." He continued to explain which looked completely out of place with him peacefully eating dessert.

"Then that means you're a part of..." 

"The Legion? I am," he said nodding to her,

"If they went that far then why aren't you surrounded by an army right now?" she asked

"Oh, there are five airships each carrying a platoon flying a few hundred meters above us right now, this ship is no different. It was also the same while we were at the mansion ignoring the other measures in place." he clarified to her while eating his dessert. 

After he mentioned that she looked around and noticed that the people around were occasionally glancing their way and it wasn't out of curiosity. She understood why he was being so casual, it would require a huge force just to get anywhere near him and even if they succeeded it was unlikely they would escape. She had gotten so used to being casual with him that she had entirely forgotten just what his position entailed.

"Isn't this a bit overboard for a prince?" she asked, she wasn't sure a prince needed this much protection.

"Not really, being the King's enforcer as well as being the prince kinda requires I take extra security precautions," he said. She now understood why she often found him doing stuff that felt out of place for a prince but she just thought it was how things worked in Katolis.

They continued talking for the rest of the journey though they decided to change the topic to something less heavy.

\-----------

Agatha had gone to the library while Viren was in his office going through the data they managed to compile, then Soren came in with a plate full of sandwiches,  
"hey dad, figured you'd be hungry by now... wait where's Claudia?" he said.

"Dad? I need some help here," a moment later her voice suddenly came from the door leading to the repository where magical items were stored and studied.

The two of them looked at the door wondering if they should ignore it or not.

"Clauds? what's going on?" Soren asked as he put the plate on the desk and moved to a corner.

Viren walked over and opened the door, and they saw a skeleton with an amulet around its neck.  
"Claudia, explain what exactly happened," Viren said while rubbing the bridge of his nose and thought. _"This was going to be a long day."_ as he moved several steps back.

"I was helping the team in charge of studying this amulet. We tried different spells to see if we could induce a reaction. Somehow my consciousness became tied to this amulet and it flew off on its own towards the skeleton bringing it to life, then it ran away from us." her voice coming from the amulet itself as the skeleton began to move towards them. 

Soren quickly grabbed the broom from the corner.

"Back! Back off foul creature! Back to the pit from which you came!!!"

He attacked it in an over-dramatic fashion bonking its skull at every opportunity. 

"Oh real mature Sorbear. This must be soooo much fun for you." she said,

"I won't deny it nahahaha" he was trying to imagine what her expression must be like while he drove it back until it started to run away. He held the broom like a spear and threw it at his fleeing target. It struck its neck, separating its skull from its body. He quickly moved to grab the amulet, and the skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones, the unmoving kind. 

He retrieved his trusty weapon and promptly began whistling while sweeping away the pile of bones. He was definitely going to tell Callum about this when he got back.  
"So now what?" he asked.

"Now we go find your sister and the other involved." was all he said while slowly heading towards the repository with a sandwich in one hand. None of them would quickly forget the earful they got from Viren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for another look inside my pedantic head:
> 
> \-----------------  
> anyone know a good name for a ministry that Viren should be working in? cause I sure don't and I'm looking for suggestions  
> \----------------  
> Airships look a lot like Zeppelins  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin
> 
> Their top speed is around 140-160 kmh, 
> 
> I'm still undecided on how the propulsion system would work, I have the idea for a large cumbersome magic jet engine or one with an external propeller, I have no idea which to use so use your imagination anytime I mention and airship till I can finalize this little problem.
> 
> There are airships that use hydrogen but they aren't as popular for obvious reasons i.e THIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster
> 
> Those used to transport materials and goods look like the ones from our world though with a much bigger cargo capacity and don't have any armor or weapons.
> 
> There are two variant that are used for the military. A combat version that has turrets located all over the airship in order to shoot from any angle, then there is the bombardment version which is build around bombing the ground with all weapons located at the bottom. Both do carry several tons of bombs.
> 
> How do they fly with all that weight?  
> No matter how you look at it, there is no way Callum has the required muscles in his upper body to fly using his wings, the same applies to both skywing elves and dragons... which means there is some kind of magical nonsense at work here.
> 
> My explanation, they use magic to first counteract the effect of gravity on their bodies and then use magic on their wings to create propulsion in order to fly around... Using this also meant I am no longer limited by normal physics muahahahahaha.
> 
> For airships, The helium is stored in many smaller gas containers instead of a few large ones. Magic is used to drastically increase its lift capacity, think of it like a hot air balloon except instead of heat they infuse it with magical energy. 
> 
> This alone isn't enough so there are large runic plates located throughout the ship. They passively work counteract gravity which allows these airships to maintain an altitude without being weighted down by the several dozen tons of cargo, armor and weapons.
> 
> There is an active type of runic plating that will only work if you send energy to it. They can be controlled to move the ship in any direction. Up, down, left, right, forward and backwards
> 
> Runic plates simply means that runes have been engraved into something that allows that material to gain the effect of a spell. Making them is actually hard, if the material isn't properly made then there is no point, if the runes aren't properly engraved or if the correct amount of magic wasn't used then you'll have to start from scratch.
> 
> If you are expecting some human made sun forged blades then I'm gonna have to disappoint you, you'd only get hot pieces of metal in this case that can be used for heating (how magic powered hot baths and house heating works) unless you supercharge it. You'd need the sun forge to make something molten hot so the elves win this round.
> 
> A military ship after taking into account the weight of the crew, food, armor, weapons, ammunition, power supply, the ship itself etc can carry an additional 30 tons of bombs or anything else they want.
> 
> A cargo airship can carry far more because they don't have any armor, weapons or ammo to carry around.
> 
> a cargo ship on the seas can carry around 12,000 tons of cargo so airships are used to move stuff that you need quickly  
> \---------
> 
> Ezran's bed is actually pretty high off the ground, the space underneath is often used to put stuff in. 
> 
> \-----------
> 
> I'll explain magic weaponry and how their all powered when Rayla gets her new toys. that and a few other stuff that I have been dying to mention


	6. A New Begining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By Oath, by Blood & By Steel  
> Legion Heraldry: https://imgur.com/a/LWmhwM3  
> (Try to guess why I chose this)  
> United We Stand, United We Stay
> 
> Rayla arrives at the castle
> 
> Richard continues his plans while Ernest continues to worry about said plans. 
> 
> Callum gets busy with Viren.
> 
> As usual, if you have questions, then I will answer them in the comments

Katolis,

Rayla was standing in front of the airship door to open so that she could see the capital. While in the air had noticed the capital city was massive and the skies were filled with dozens of airships patrolling the area, in the distance, she could make out the silhouette of warships moored in the ports with many merchant ships coming and going.

As the door opened, Callum was the first to exist.

"Calum!" was all she heard as she saw him get tackled back into the airship and to the floor by a small boy with poofy hair holding a toad in his arms followed by a baby dragon. She wondered if Katolis had some dragon's residing within its borders.

"I missed you to." Callum gave the boy a big hug. "So did you manage to hold the fort for me while I was away?" 

"Yep," Ezran finally letting go of his brother.

"This is Rayla, I met her over a week ago. Rayla this is my brother Ezran" He introduced them to each other.

  


"It's a pleasure to meet you your highness." She bowed to him

"just Ezran is fine... jelly tart?" the young boy said as he then produced a jelly tart from somewhere, she wondered if the entire royal family wasn't big on formalities. She accepted it and took a bite out of it, it was sweet and devoured it with a fervor and noticed he, the toad, and the dragon were eating one themselves.

Callum smiled wryly and thought _"Well looks like **our** little group just grew by one."_

"Bait, Zym say hi to Rayla." Ezran patted his four legged his companions. Zym looked at her with curiosity before jumping at her and licking her face as she caught him while Bait just looked at her with a grumpy expression and grunted.

"Dad told me Preston and Aanya will be here this evening, so can we?" he looked at Callum expectantly

"Yeah we can do it tomorrow and I got a new toy we can use." Callum rolled his eyes as he answered which caused Ezran's face to light up.

"Will Ellis be joining us?" Callum asked

"Yeah, she got back a few days ago." Ezran replied.

Rayla had no idea what they were talking about, but she hoped he didn't mean her when he said he had a new toy.

As soon as she exited she saw there were two lines of soldiers gesticulating outside, forming a path for them in the middle. The left side was comprised entirely of the crown guard whose members were all humans, they wore grey armor comprising of a cuirass, vambraces, greaves, faulds, pouldrons, and a helmet. Underneath that armor, they wore a dark tabard with a grey undershirt and black pants. Their heraldry was a per-pale black and white divided shield with a golden bordure that also depicted the symbol of Katolis at the top displayed on their pouldrons and black capes. They held a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. 

The other line was a group comprised of both humans and elves. Their armor consisted of an almost similar armor set as the crown guard. For clothing, they wore a dark blue surcoat over a purple undershirt tucked under a belt and black pants and wore a one-sided cape over their left shoulder. Their designs showed that they belonged to a different order with deviations to their clothes to accommodate the physiologyof each elven race. Their heraldry was a winged shield depicting the sword in the middle with two dragon heads emerging from crossed guns and two olive branches at the bottom. She realized their color scheme was the same as Callum's clothes

They had guns strapped to their armor within easy reach in case the situation called for it. The armor appeared to be ceremonial as it didn't seem to have any of the weight one would expect from using heavy plate armor. 

The knights rose, they sheathed their swords and began to walk in lockstep as both the Prince's and Vaeril walked past them. Rayla decided to stay in the far back because she wasn't sure what to make of this or how to act. She wondered if this was how nobles and royalty were greeted when they returned home.

As they made their way to the castle flanked by their armed escort, she noticed that the area gave off a similar vibe to the garden back in the mansion except it was all on a grander scale. The castle walls were made of pure marble but underneath that layer of opulence was an excessive amount of stone, permacrete, and armor along with hidden weapon emplacements. At first glance, the place looked like paradise but for any intruders, it was a death trap.

Ezran had returned to his tutoring, Vaeril went to the library, and Callum, well he didn't say where he was going. He had asked a Moonshadow elf named Saphielle to show Rayla her way around the castle.

"So does everyone in the legion stay in the castle?" Rayla asked while looking around.

"Only the first company and those that are needed, the rest stay in the governmental district." Saphielle answered.

"Is the first company that important?" 

"The first company only take orders from the Prince and are part of his personal guard."

"So I just follow him around like I've been doing for the past few days? should be easy enough." thinking that this might be the easiest job she ever did. "how'd you come to be in Katolis?" 

"I was rescued by the legion, same as everyone else. In fact, you're the only exception to this" Saphielle said nonchalantly.  
"So what about you? why'd you come to Katolis?" 

"It's complicated," Rayla's expression showed she didn't want to discuss it. 

"Well don't worry about it, We all have things we'd rather not talk about so we won't pry."she gave the new blood a reassuring smile. "

"Ah here we are," pointing to the building in front of them, "this is my armory, if need to repair your weapons and armor, or to requisition any new equipment then you come to me." her voice was full of pride.

There were armor pieces and weapons on full display in front, the sound of hammering could be heard coming from the other end of the armory along with the light smell of burning metals. 

"So do I have to wear those ceremonial armor all the time?" Rayla asked

Saphielle looked at her in confusion "Those aren't ceremonial, they are all mean't for battle."

"But they looked weightless," 

"Oh that, they use runes to make it lighter. It's something I only learned after I was assigned to the armory here. If you're curious about this stuff then ask Vaeril, he usually spends his time in the library studying human history and science." She said smiling. "Ah, I should explain it to you, there is only one spot left in the first company and since you aren't officially sworn in, the other recruits will try to compete for your spot."

"No one stands between me and my money!" her eyes were burning with determination as she clenched her fist. Saphielle wasn't sure if she should be amused or worried or both at Rayla's reaction.

They eventually reached Rayla's room, Saphielle went back leaving her alone. She closed the door and jumped onto the fluffy bed and rolled around like a child. Suddenly she heard the crunching of paper from under the pillow, there was a letter under it. She opened it and found that it was from Callum.

"Dear Rayla,

the chest in the corner contains your stuff from your apartment, there's also a small amount of gold I've added to make up for the three months you've suffered here. Your uniforms and casual clothes are in the closets

Also, meet me and Ezran at the inner courtyard tomorrow at 9:00 AM

PS: Make sure to burn this letter after reading it. I'm serious about burning this letter."

Sher rushed over to the chest and opened it up, it was filled with her old stuff and she quickly found the gold coins, twenty of them, and started wondering what she could spend it on.  
"I'm not giving up my spot on the first company, especially since he's paying me so much." she said as she went over to check her wardrobe. 

\--------

Belmont Manor, Frenoria, Erdus Dukedom

Richard and Ernest were discussing matters while drinking wine, Richard had acquired a taste for wine made from moon berries, while Ernest had no real preference for one type over another. Suddenly Eliot asked for an audience, Richard allowed it before the Archduke could even interject 

"My lords, I wish to inform you that the agents we sent to Rimemere have returned." Eliot said

"Good, tell me everything." a thin smile formed on Richard's face, 

Ernest suddenly leaned forwards with interest as he placed his wine glass on the table.

Eliot bowed before he began his report.  
"The caravan met with an accident as we had arranged. Soldiers serving the king had already arrived first and discovered the etherium they was transporting."

"Did Hasting's men arrive soon after?" Ernest asked. While Richard was the mastermind behind this scheme, that didn't mean he didn't have a stake in its success.

Eliot smiled "As we had predicted, the viscount waited for _our_ storm to abate. The message he received from the soldiers was that they had located the lost caravan and managed to rescue the lone survivor but they encountered an infestation before they could investigate the wreckage. Hasting told them that he would personally ensure that he would investigate it and send them a report."

The archduke snorted. "I'm sure he will send an _honest_ report to the king, speaking of whom."

"we've already confirmed that the king received the full details," Eliot confirmed.

"And the survivor?" Ernest knew people would die because of this plan, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"An elven girl, possibly 15 to 17, we suspect a refugee from the war. The Prince seemed to have recruited her though we have no realiable information on this matter." Eliot said.

"Well hopefully she can regain some semblance of a normal life." A small smile formed on Ernest's face, he may have ordered the invasion of Xadia for the benefit of his nation, but that didn't mean he was ignorant of the pain he was causing. 

"We have confirmed that the Prince will be returning to the capital for some time. He's already looking into the matter of Hasting but we don't know anything beyond that."

"Was there any loose ends that might cause them to suspect us pulling the strings?" Richard finally spoke, until now he had been quietly processing and compartmentalizing the information trying to find any details that might cause a problem later on.

"None, the mental suggestions we placed on the merchants were sufficient to ahcieve our goals and the paper trail will lead them to a dead end on the black market." Eliot answered. 

Richard had concluded that the mission could be considered a success. "and whats the status of the recording device?"

"Recording? whats this about?" Ernest didn't try to hide his confusion.

"The prince and his knights would be dealing with the _forsaken_ in a known infestation site in a few days. I had my men place a recording device and infused the area with enough primal energy to create a large swarm." Richard stated nonchalantly as if it was something trivial. 

Ernest's jaw dropped and his face turned pale at what he just heard. "Just what else have you been up to?" though in all honesty, he didn't want an answer, he'd learned that nothing good ever comes from peering into his friend's shadow but this felt like this was going too far, and thought worryingly _"If something happens to the prince then all our efforts would be wasted, and it would result in unnecessary civilian casualties"_

\-------

Polmauren territory, Erdus Dukedom

Duke Talmin Vanderbilt was in his lab filled with equipment for brewing potions. His brow furrowed with concentration as he was carefully adding ingredients to a container that was already boiling with a concoction. He had used etherium to infuse energy into the vapors before it was distilled into another bottle, this process continued several times as he kept adding different ingredients ranging from finished exotic potions to material brought from Xadia.

After several hours, He was left with a blood-red potion that appeared jet black while it sat in its container. He then moved on to making the next potion.

\-------

Frenoria, an hour after the Archduke had left,

"Have you determined the location of all resistance bases?" Richard stopped being coy

"We have but we still haven't confirmed which cell each belongs to or their size just yet." Eliot explained, 

"I see, has there been any progress on Vanderbilt's new communication channel?" Richard asked

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find any evidence that such a thing exists." Eliot and his men looked everywhere but found nothing, it felt like chasing an illusion.

"I don't like this, something is going on here." Richard wad trying to think of what his political enemy was scheming, all he knew was that Vanderbilt sought war  
"For a while now it feels like there is another shadow lurking within the darkness of this nation." He said, Eliot understood his meaning and considered what resources they could and couldn't utilize.

\--------

Katolis

In the southernmost area of the Castle grounds

"Again!" Callum said, wiping the blood off his face while struggling to hold on to his sword, his armor was cracked in several areas. He looked at the four remaining golem's standing in front of him, they were readying for their next attack, then a small bell rang. 

"thirty minutes." Viren said then he ordered his golems to stand down, he on the other hand was visibly fine. The Medics quickly ran towards the prince and began treating his injuries.

The high mage turned towards the scientists nearby "Did you collect enough data"

"Yes sir, but this data still doesn't make sense." One of them said as she looked at the readout in front of him. "if only we could continue this a bit longer" he added

"Would you like me to make that suggestion to the king?" Viren asked dryly, the man quickly shook his head in panic.

After thirty minutes had passed, the price had recovered as much as physically possible. After the field was clear the prince prepared for another round. 

"Corpus. Alas. Volantus" he chanted, wings started to emerge as his body was enveloped by electricity. Viren's men were busily measuring the energy the prince's energy readings from safe distance or they risk getting caught in the cross fire.

"Attack," Viren said, the titanic golems charged towards the prince, the ground shaking with their every step.

"quattuor fulminis tempestas" the prince chanted, the golems thunderous advance was brought to a halt by an unending wave of lightning, they struggled to break free from its grip. A distinct smell started to become noticeable as the lightning started to split the bonds between oxygen atoms and started fusing them to create ozone. 

This battle would continue for a full thirty minutes before it all ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By Oath, by Blood & By Steel  
> Legion Heraldry: https://imgur.com/a/LWmhwM3 (My own creation using random images I found in my old pc, no idea why I even have them)  
> United We Stand, United We Stay  
> \--------  
> Crown guard Heraldry: https://dragonprince.fandom.com/wiki/Soren/Gallery?file=Soren_03.jpg  
> \--------  
> King' coat of arms: https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.672345285.2810/flat,750x1000,075,f.u2.jpg  
> \--------  
> Katolis flag: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDragonPrince/comments/a28uia/i_made_a_flag_for_the_kingdom_of_katolis/
> 
> The entire royal escort thing normally doesn't involve armor as thats only worn when the person in question was away from some time.
> 
> The Legion's heraldry took a while to contemplate
> 
> "By Oath, by Blood & By Steel"  
> the oaths refers to whom and what they've sworn to  
> the blood refers to those that have either left or died  
> the steel refers to the tools they use to carry out their duties
> 
> "United We Stand, United We Stay" is rather self explanatory
> 
> their armor and uniform is based on this https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/006/230/988/large/max-yenin-7knight.jpg?1496959917 
> 
> \------------
> 
> lightning does in fact create ozone, oxygen atoms in the atmosphere aren't in their pure elemental form, its in the form of O2 instead of O. Lightning splits O2 into O which are then all fused into O3.
> 
> \----------  
> The armor worn has magical Runes to increase its strength and reduce weight.  
> Mass producing them is impossible so they are used mostly by knightly order's, elite units or high ranking people.  
> It's also a status symbol as being able to afford to have and maintain them is not something you're average noble can afford. Even merchant nobles would find it difficult. If you piss off someone wearing armor chances are they or someone they know also has the resources to send an army after you.  
> Rayla's position and safety is now secure.
> 
> Just like in our world, Heavy plate armor went out of fashion as firearms became better over time. High quality armor was the only thing that had a chance of withstanding bullets, low quality armor which made up most armor were less likely. so armor declines to covering the most vital areas only and now infantry gained more mobility as they now carried less weight. 
> 
> The Legion is a division strong which means in this world their max numbers will be 10,000 to 15,000, currently they are 11,500 strong.  
> Do all units have runic armor? Yes but not all runic armor is made equally, only 3,000 currently have a full set of high quality runic armor. The rest have low quality versions which by armor standards is still very expensive. 
> 
> If you tried to sell even the low quality ones in the open market you'd have trouble finding buyers and have to make sure you aren't breaking any laws... which you are already doing because selling them is illegal. Each nation makes runic armor differently and they don't like the idea of their little secrets somehow making its way to another country to be reverse engineered.
> 
> The crown guard only has 4,800 high quality armor for their total of 10,000 units.
> 
> \-------
> 
> map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png
> 
> the castle is located on a small islands that so close to the mainland that I'm starting to wonder if the world island even works here. So Callum and Ezran have their own little beach  
> I moved the castle to the south because capitals are often centered around important areas, since the world centers around naval trade, it made sense to move the capital down south where the military could be sent to any coastal areas and ports quickly and its close to the island of Avalon where the majority of Katolis's feynor birch are located  
> In our world, by the time Constantine moved the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople because the latter had become the center of trade in the empire and thus political power while the former had declined. 
> 
> the governmental district is right next to the island, it includes everything from civilian institution to military ones for all branches of their military.


	7. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff in this chapter takes place an hour after the events of the previous chapter.
> 
> Rayla finally decides to ask Vaeril some questions that have been occupying her mind recently.
> 
> The two moonshadow elve's receive a message from Callum,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> world map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png

Katolis Northern Border

"General, a letter just arrived for you, its from you wife" 

Her head emerged from the mountain of paperwork she'd been stuck with since this morning, she took the letter from Gren who returned to his own office. 

She opened the letter wondering what Janai wanted to write to her about. Her wife wrote two letters a week, this was the third so something must've happened.

They had found an elven girl who was implicated in etherium smuggling case and Callum had recruited her. She rolled her eyes after reading the next few lines, she slowly shook her head thinking, _"What am I going to do with you."_ She knew exactly where Janai was going with this.

After she finished reading the whole thing, she then took a piece of paper and began writing a letter and made sure to tell her wife to not automatically assume every young girl their nephew met would be a good match for him. 

After she finished writing her response, she called for Gren and returned to dealing with her mortal enemy i.e excessive paperwork.

\-------

Outside the city of Frenoria, Erdus Dukedom

In a cave hidden behind an illusion, elves and humans were working throughout the maze like tunnels. In a room deep within the winding network of the cave, a male Moonshadow elf was holding his head in his hands.  
"Can you not humiliate them with wedgies for once?" he said, just knocking them unconscious was sufficient, he wished his wife would stop being so vindictive.

"Never" His wife hissed as she pouted at him before turning back to a map wondering where they should strike next.

He simply sighed, suddenly he heard a knock at the door, there were two, then a pause before the third, then another pause before two more. His eyes widening, that pattern meant that direct orders had just come in.  
"We're not finished," he said to her before heading to the door, she just rolled her eyes at his remark.

He opened the door and saw an earthblood elf who handed him two scrolls of parchment. One scroll contained several pieces of parchment, the other had only one, he assumed the latter contained their orders while the former had all the details they'd need to carry out said orders.

He closed the door. He's decided to look at it quickly as his wife was too busy plotting how to humiliate their enemy. The seal on the scrolls was genuine, he broke the first one and chanted a spell to dispel the illusion and other safeguards that protected its contents, words started to emerge on the previously blank sheet. He recognized the prince's handwriting, it contained orders to look for information on certain transactions that took place within the black market, the parameters of their search were listed below. He felt this would be an easy job.

"All units are to prepare for a complete withdrawal by the coming winter." He wondered what happened that they were being ordered to return to Katolis in less than three months, well it's not as he and the others could complain about getting back and taking it easy. But what was written at the end of the letter caught his attention.

"The other scroll contains a more complicated matter that relates to what you've been ordered to investigate." That was vague he thought and wondered what it was all about. He broke the seal on the second one and noticed it was two separate pieces of parchment. He unrolled it and dispelled the protections. An image began to form on the sheet.

His eyes widened in shock as its contents were revealed to him, his breathing became heavy as his hands started to tremble, the other pieces of parchment fell free from his grip and laid strewn on the ground. His eyes started to heat up as tears began flowing down his cheeks, he kept looking at it hoping this wasn't some illusion. 

"Tiadrin!" he called out.

"For the thousandth time I'm not gonna sto..." she turned around but stopped mid-sentence as she saw him. "... what is it?"

He tried to speak but couldn't as the words were stuck in his throat, so he held up the parchment for her to see. Her eyes widened as she saw the sketch.

"... Rayla." she walked over to him slowly before taking the parchment, she pulled the sketch close to her chest as she fell to her knees crying.  
he tried his best to console her but it was too overwhelming for them both 

"She all grown up," she managed to regain some composure. They hadn't seen her in ten years, they had no viable means of crossing the veil, all they could do was hope that she was safe.

They both looked at the last parchment and read it,

 _"... Rayla came under our care after she was caught in an accident, she was escorting a merchant caravan that was smuggling B1 etherium."_ Their expressions became worried, they knew how seriously humans were when it came to etherium...  


_"...she was unaware of the contents...."_ they felt relief wash over them knowing that she wasn't involved in anything problematic.  


_"... She will not say how she ended up in Katolis and gets upset when asked, so we have chosen to respect her wishes..."_

They looked at each other "Now I'm worried, what happened to her?" He wanted to rush back to Katolis right now.

"Are Ethari and Runaan with her?" she couldn't find any mention of either of them in the letter. They assumed Rayla became separated from them, or they had died. 

_"...She hasn't been told yet about you two. However, if you feel strongly about it then send your decision within two days."_

Of course, they wanted to let their daughter know they were alright and finally be able to talk to her after all these years.

They both turned to face each other, their decision was a foregone conclusion, and wrote their response  
"We have received our orders and we wish that our existence be kept from her till we return to Katolis."  
They were grateful that the prince asked them but they wouldn't let their desire to communicate with their daughter jeopardize their operations here. 

He took the letter and sealed it then ordered it be sent back to Katolis. They had gathered all the parchment that lay strewn on the ground and began to go over them.

"She still hasn't lost her sweet tooth after all these years" they looked at a sketch of her happily munching on pastries, the next was of her playing the flute. Each parchment had details written on the back.

The next one was her drinking from a bottle with gusto, they were confused so they turned the sketch around to get some context. They started laughing after reading that she had accidentally discovered the feynor birch during her exploration of Janai's mansion.

After catching their breath they kept looking over them, they were happy to finally know that she was safe and happy now.

"Just three more months and we can meet our beloved moonlight again." she said

"We should probably protect the prince just in case she takes issue with him sending us these" he didn't want to think about the possibility that they might find that their daughter assaulted royalty in a fit of rage, he knew she had inherited Tiadrin's temperament as a child, he hoped she might have grown out of it by now.

"Yeah you're probably right," she didn't want to imagine that scenario.

They decided to look over the rest after they were finished with work.

\--------

Katolis

"Welcome back son." Harrow held Callum in a long embrace. Harrow had just finished dealing with the paperwork and went straight to see his son.

Callum returned the hug, "I missed you to dad." After a long pause, they separated and began to head towards Opeli's office.

"I trust your stay in Rimemere was pleasant."

"It was, I managed to find someone from the Silvergrove."

"ah, I take it this is the girl from the incident" Harrow remembered the details of the report.  
Callum nodded, they had arrived at Opeli's office and entered,

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, welcome" Opeli stood up and bowed before returning to the mountain of legal papers in front of her. "I take it something's come up?" she asked.

"Remember when you said you suspected Count Gaincel?" The prince said

Harrow cocked an eyebrow, wondering why he's bringing up that scumbag.

Opeli narrowed her eyes, "Yes?"

"Turns out he's been meeting with Hasting in secret."

"why am I not surprised." Opeli groaned.

"It seems scum tend to enjoy each other's company." Harrow was smiling, he finally had something to work with, what made it better was that his son was the one who found this out, oh how he wanted to see Gaincel expression when this was all dealt with when the time came. 

Callum had to rain down on Harrow's internal parade. "You're gonna have to wait till after Hasting's party is over before getting rid of him, I still have unfinished business to deal with" 

"Whats this about?" 

"Tax & rent fraud," Callum said

As she got her answer, Opeli crushed the documents she held as she balled her hands into fists imagining it was Hasting's neck she was crushing. Harrow's face became more stern

"I need to get the actual records to know how big it is. Here's what I managed to dig up so far." Callum took out a file from his satchel.

Opeli took it, her face became more the embodiment of wrath as she kept reading it. This alone would've been enough for her to deal with him but the final pages contained far more serious details that explained why the prince wanted more time, "You suspect the Dukedom's involvement?"

"I find it hard to believe that they could get their hands on any Grade-B1's, on their own." The manner in which it was transported, the odd behavior of the merchants, it was too suspicious.  
"We found a lead to the black market, I sent orders to have Lain and Tiadrin see if they could find anything." Callum concluded.

Opeli was massaging her forehead. 

Their clandestine operation to gather intelligence in the dukedom was drawing to an end, the elves had fully committed themselves to it far more than any human in the legion, in exchange to be able to hamper the dukedom's efforts in Xadia. 

"speaking of which, about tomorrow's meeting?"

"Don't worry they'll all be here, they'll probably spend the entire time complaining about being dragged here so suddenly but they will show up at least." Harrow wasn't so sure why Callum wanted to call a meeting like this without giving any details.

\--------

Library, Katolis Castle.

Rayla had put on her uniform and went straight to the library looking around for Vaeril. Saphielle did say he'd be in here, though she could do without his icy gaze. 

The library was massive, she kept going through rows of tall bookcases, wondering if Vaeril was even in here. She occasionally took a book out to read the summary out of curiosity. She took a book titled "history of naval armor" she opened a random page, it kept saying stuff about ductile to brittle transition but it was so confusing to her, she wasn't even sure they were using real words. She put it back and resumed her search for the elusive grim reaper.

Moments later she found him, he noticed her heading his way. "Ah Rayla, Is there something you need?"

"Yes, I need to know about the invasion of Xadia."

"They invaded us, took many as prisoners, and Xadia has so far failed at every attempt to drive them back to the human side. The End... you happy?" he said dryly

"I want the exact details, you were there that day weren't you."

"Why do you want to know? Didn't they teach you about it in school or have the educational standards fallen into mediocrity these past few years?" While he appreciated people wanting to learn more, he could tell it wasn't simple curiosity that was driving her.

"After going on that airship, Callum gave me a basic explanation of how it worked but I quickly understood that the dukedom could've easily destroyed all of Xadia if they tried, I want to know WHY, why haven't they defeated us when they could." She made it clear she wasn't going to accept any vapid answers. She had to know.

He snorted "You're right, If destroying us was their goal, then Xadia would resemble the west at the end of the Calamity War.

He looked at her for a long moment before continuing "When you meet the prince again, ask him, ask him what a thermonuclear weapon is. Then you'll know just how powerful humanity has become since we _sanctimoniously_ banished their entire species for the crimes of a _few_."

Rayla knew that there were people that viewed Luna Tenebris's decision to banish humanity as unjust and cruel, she didn't expect Vaeril to be in that category. Till she met Callum she had no real interest in such a topic "I'll ask him, but you still haven't answered my question"

"I guess I should start at the very beginning, before giving you your answer" He sighed as he closed his book and began to tell her about that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The time has come... prepare for FLASHBACKS!!! next chapter.  
> \----  
> It was Janai who was watching them from the rooftops.  
> \-----  
> Tiadrin's obsession with giving Wedgies comes from her desire to get back at the dukedom for not being able to see her daughter for so long.
> 
> no long notes today, there ain't really anything to elaborate in great detail here.
> 
> \--------  
> Edit: on second thought, here's an info dumb on parchment.
> 
> parchment is made from prepared untanned animal skins usually cows, sheep, goats etc, basically the predecessor of paper made from wood pulp.
> 
> Parchment is still in use because you can add spells to them. Imagine drawing the runes for fulminus, then instead of chanting you again draw that rune on the parchment which now becomes a spell scroll.
> 
> They can be used only once unless you connect it to some etherium then that scroll can be used to cast fulminus multiple times even by non-mages however there is a huge risk of said non-mages making a mistake and killing themselves as something inevitably goes horribly wrong.
> 
> paper can't hold magic spells, they would catch fire the moment you tried adding a spell to it. The meat and wool industry often pays their taxes using animal skins since the govt wants parchment for its mages and magical related nonsense. Technically since paper took over, animal skins weren't in high demand as before and was treated as a waste product as no one could ever use all of it, the govt came in offered to trade it for their taxes. Since the govt was the sole buyer they set the price. The industry didn't have to worry about the animal skins piling up and paid less in taxes as a result.
> 
> parchment can be reused for magic due to how durable it is, and can last for thousands of years under the right conditions.
> 
> propaganda idea: Your country needs YOU to eat MORE meat...... because we need more parchments
> 
> I'm sure McDonalds and Burger King would support such propaganda if my magic system existed in our world.


	8. Prelude to War (11 Years Ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _  
> **[[ This chapter takes place in the past 11 years before the main story]]**  
>  _

\-----------------------

11 Years Ago  
\-----------------------

"Sister, is this really necessary?" Janai folded her arms

Khessa turned away from the other palace bureaucrats to face her sister. "It is, they will not see the significance of our new mechanical bow and siege throwers until they try it out."

"And how does that require them to bring their armies here?"

"It will show them that we are capable of handling such a situation with ease." The queen articulated

Janai rolled her eyes, "Just admit it, you just want to show off in front of everyone."

"Like you're any different." Khessa retorted smiling

"I won't deny it but are the war games really necessary," she asked

Khessa nodded as the smile on her face grew.

Janai groaned as her shoulders slumped and hands fell to her sides almost dangling, "Fine, but when this turns into a fist fight, I'm blaming you for it all" she went back to check the status of the security detail. She hoped she could get the dragon guard to help her keep the peace. They were planning this event for months, ensuring they had enough for accommodations, food, etc. The Sunfire kingdom hadn't mobilized resources on such a scale since the last war they had with Moonshadow elves "I hope those reflections can keep their daggers to themselves for once." she muttered under her breath.

  


\-----

  


Meanwhile, near the Veil.

Men were quietly digging trenches and building multiple bunkers in key areas under the safety of illusion magic. 

Cartographers were busy in their tents trying to create an accurate map to use. They regularly sent small groups of flight mages to conduct reconnaissance, which gave them invaluable data.

"Henry, please repeat that, I think I misheard you" General Cornelius was staring in disbelief at what his protege had just said, "Are you sure this ain't your old platoon pulling your leg or something?"

"We had our scouts triple check everything, they have almost nothing in the way of technology." Henry had read the report multiple times on his way to meet the general just to make sure he wasn't imagining all this, he hoped. 

"And here I was hoping I might find a worthy opponent to match wits with." The general sighed in disappointment, "I really wanted to beat them on an equal playing field. Any indication as to why they have stagnated for more than a thousand years?" He was honestly expecting them to have firearms or some other form of weaponry they couldn't have imagined, but this was just... sad.

Henry shook his head "As of right now, we have nothing to make even an educated guess."

"Tell the scouts I want detailed reports on their geopolitics, economy and everything else, this takes precedence over intelligence gathering on their military capabilities.."

"sir, is that really necessary? I mean..." 

The general cut him off "Lt. Henry Bernard. If you want to easily defeat an enemy, you must study them in their entirety. That includes their history, arts, cultures, philosophy, traditions, economy, all of which plays a crucial role in influencing their military doctrines and ability to respond to situations." 

"Is that why you keep winning every war game held?"

"Yes but I have no recollection of ever winning every single match," Cornelius corrected him.

As Henry was about to say something, another man came in. "Sir, the tanks have arrived and our men have finished installing the dual purpose guns as you instructed them."

"good, whats the status on the additional flight mages I requested?"

"They won't arrive for another week, however the scholas magus's are getting impatient and suggest that they head out...."

Cornelius facepalmed so hard it was audible outside the tent. "Tell them that they will stay where they are or I will order a firing squad." His voice was strained.

Both men gulped at their superior's words. 

  


\-----

  


Coral Vault Institute, Tidebound Archipelago.

In the Dean's office, the Chancellor's face was covered by his dark cloak, while he held his hands in a steeple  
"I trust you're curious as to the reasons for which I have summoned you here" 

Vaeril was sitting opposite side facing him with a deadpan expression.  
"You need me to advise you on the costume designs for your next theatre performance again?"

"No, not this time." he cheerfully dismissed that notion.

"Then why do you look like you just escaped from rehearsal?" Vaeril folded his arms, his expression was unchanged.

"We just got a message from the capital, The sunfire elves are hosting an event and want many people from everywhere to show up alogn with an army of ten thousand, something about a new bow."

"I doubt its just a simple bow if their going to invite a large foreign force to their territory." His curiosity was piqued. "I'm guessing you want me to go with the group we're sending their"

The dean nodded "After the event, you may take sometime to study the archives in the golden city if you wish."

Vaeril smiled "I would've done that even if you told me not to."

"I'm telling you because I want to avoid an international incident." he glared at the scholar in front of him, Vaeril returned the glare with equal ferocity.

  


\-----

  


The Storm Spire

Lain and Tiadrin were kneeling before the Dragon Monarchs

"You summoned us, your Majesty's," they said in unison

"Yes, formal invitations have been sent from Lux Aurea, you are to attend it as my representatives." Avizandum said, "If any of the other races try to provoke another massive conflict then you are to ensure they don't get out of hand."

Queen Zubeia moved forward "After the event is over you may return to the Silvergrove for two months before returning to the sanctuary. I'm sure your daughter misses you."

"We do, Your majesty." Lain said "and we are grateful"

"Your majesty if I may, is it wise to leave the sanctuary so lightly guarded?" Tiadrin interjected

"I understand your concern but since its establishment no one has ever attempted to enter the sanctuary. I'm certain the next two months will be no different." The king said to reassure them "No one would be foolish enough to risk angering all of dragonkind by entering that region."

"Very well, We shall leave at once." They said in unison, they bowed then left.

\-----  
  
  
Three months later. North of the midnight Desert.

A Sunfire elf was looking at the distance through his spyglass "Humans!" They were hidden by the trees and vegetation so the humans didn't notice tem. The area was somewhat elevated giving a good vantage point.

"What? but thats impossible" his squad mate said, he took the spyglass to see. He looked down scanning for them, he found them quick enough, just 400 meters in the distance, as he paid closer attention he could make out that they had no horns and had five fingers.

"I'll get the squad and capture them,"

"They look like regular soldiers to me." He remembered the stories about how weak humans were he was taught back in school. He always wondered how they managed to work with those extra fingers and thought he could ask them after they were captured, he then wondered if they even spoke the same language after a millennia had passed. _"I wish kazi was here"_

"I'm not taking chances which is why you're staying here to observe just in case." Having one person stay behind when facing an unknown quantity was a basic rule for them, a lesson they had learned painfully when hey fought with the reflections decades ago.

the other man nodded as his squad leader went to gather his men who were resting nearby.

An hour later, he had assembled his entire squad add had mounted their horses with their spears and swords drawn.  
They began a charge towards the humans intending to catch them off guard as he'd assume the cavalry charge would be too quick for them to mount any meaningful counter. They broke through the trees and the humans finally took notice of them. The elves noticed the humans were looking at them yet showed no signs of panic, he wondered if perhaps they had mistook them for their own kind which he though might make this easier. He shouted his orders to take them alive if possible. In that instance his ears were overcome by a thunderclap, he was worried they might be mages and intending to call lightning down on them, but instead he saw small fireballs erupt for an instant around him and he suddenly felt an intense pain in his body, his thoughts came to an abrupt end as his consciousness faded to darkness for good.

In the distance, the lone elf was observing, wondering how humans had managed to breach the veil, He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as the beating of hooves on the ground was replaced by what sounded like a sudden yet distant thunderclap as he saw his squad-mates were swallowed by several explosions and toppled to the ground lifeless with their horses. He was visibly shaken by the sudden turn of events as his face started to contort with fear. He saw as the humans approach his fallen comrades but he decided to mount his horse and rush back to Lux Aurea before they noticed him, thinking _"Dark mages, I have to inform the capital."_

  


\-----  
  
  
An hour later.

"Oho, the Sunfire elves have developed the crossbow and siege equipment." His curiosity was piqued "... At least they're finally making some progress. "

"Yes, they are planning to hold a massive demonstration and have invited the other kingdoms to observe and take part in war games." Henry added.

"It makes our job ea...."

"GENERAL!" a man rushed in, his face dripping with sweat as he was bent forward, his hands on his knees as he tried to explain the intel that just came in "The scholas magus and their.. escort.. had run into the enemy,... they enemy was a small cavalry unit, all wiped out." His words interrupted only by his heavy panting

"I should've known better than to let them go exploring" the general sighed

"Still the enemy was wiped out so if we hide the bodies then.."

"Then they will still notice that their men have failed to return and send more to investigate unless they had one stay behind as a precaution, in which case we can expect a large response."

Cornelius closed his eyes in concentration, trying to think of likely scenarios and ways to leverage this situation. "My guess is the enemy will be at our doorstep within two weeks. Tell the engineers I want those thermal cameras operational yesterday,"  
His lips slowly curved upwards. "we may be able to use this to our advantage." His lips slowly curved upwards.

"Also call the 1st and 2nd combat flight mage platoons leaders, tell them I have special orders for them." 

he grinned almost menacingly

"Sir?" Henry asked.

"The large oasis," the general said, Henry's eyes widen and he straightens up as he understands what his mentor is going for. He wished he was fly on the wall too see when the Xadians realize what had happened when this was all over. 

  


\---------

  


Lux Aurea, One Week later

The Golden City was abuzz with activity as there was an increase in the number of guests from the other Xadian kingdoms. Over Ten thousand of each elven species had arrived along with over thirty dragons upon invitation from the Queen herself.

The grand hall was filled with scholars, royalty, dignitaries, military & political leaders, along with the dragons. The entire hall was supported by massive pillars and exuded opulence especially in the form of golden decorations and exquisite foods. The place overlooked a wide-open area where the demonstration would take place

"Are you of the Dragon Guard?" A tidebound elf asked.

"We are, and you are?" the moon shadow elf asked

"Ah, forgive my lack of decorum, My name is Vaeril, a scholar from the Coral Vaults" he introduced himself

"My name is Lain and this is my wife Taidrin" he introduced them. "So what do you study?"

"Everything, I study anything I can get my hands on. I take it you're here to represent the Dragon Monarchs?" 

Tiadrin nodded "The chimney heads in their eternal arrogance wants to show off their shiny new toys while sitting atop their gold plates chairs."

They all broke into a laugh. "I certainly can't deny such well established facts," Vaeril nodded in agreement. If this event was proof of their pride then he didn't know what would qualify.

"So what do you think about their new toys?" Tiadrin asked

"without seeing it I can't make any statements," Vaeril said but then remembered something he'd been curious about, "By the way, is it true that you used seized sunforged blades to heat your public bath houses?"

Tiadrin's expression glowed like a child "We do, serves those chimney heads right for using our weapons as gardening tools." She happily answered while Lain looked at her hoping Rayla wouldn't pick up after her mother.

"Can you elaborate the event?" 

Tiadrin happily obliged, Vaeril had planned to visit the bathhouses in the future to study the aftermath of the previous war, now he was getting information on one of those events, attending this event seemed to be the height of his academic life.

"Ah, there you two are" Janai approached them "I must thank you again, with your help we can keep the most chaotic elements in line during this event."

Suddenly the room was filled with a loud voice announcing that the demonstration would begin shortly, everyone made their way to get a good view of it. 

They saw formations of Sunfire elves marching towards the area with many armor plates were set up as targets representing enemy soldiers, each of them was carrying these new so-called mechanical bows. Vaeril watched as they were spinning some kind of handle then place an arrow, they took aim then let loose then fell back to reload and the line behind them came up and let loose their arrows. Their range was far shorter than a war bow but most of them had penetrated the armor plates. Many of the guests and high-ranking military leaders looked on with disinterest.

Then they began bringing a large version of it, it needed wheels to move. It took much longer to be ready but when it let loose an arrow the size of a spear, it penetrated an armor plate and kept going. 

Soon a young dragon moved forward, curious to see how well its scales could handle such a weapon, but new bows couldn't even scratch the dragon's scale.

Next, they had brought on something else, a strange contraption that used weights to throw large stones a great distance away. This display caused many guests to gasp.

"I don't see whats the big deal, regular archers can shoot further can't they?" Tiadrin said the only thing she found impressive was the large bow.

Janai wanted to interject explaining how wrong she was but the tidebound elf that was with them beat her to it. 

"You misunderstand, they may have a shorter range than an archer and fire slower but this bow allows for melee-focused infantry to function as short-range archers. An enemy charge can be more easily broken up using them in large numbers."

"You are an informed one" Janai was impressed at the tidebound elf's knowledge "Are you a military leader for your kingdom?"

"I am merely a passionate scholar. I was told at an early age by everyone  
I hadn't the stomach for war" 

"whoever said that were fools," Janai scoffed, she found it unbelievable that someone who could understand such details and implications of a weapon so easily in such a short time wasn't in charge of his own army. She wondered if the _flippers_ would last long if all their brightest were discouraged from the military, an army lead by fools is just a disaster waiting to happen considering many of the people here only cared about the trebuchet.

"Couldn't you just train more archers for that?" Tiadrin argued

"No, an elite archer requires a lifetime of training whereas this bow can be mastered in a week at most. Untrained civilians can now more easily be converted into soldiers effectively increasing the number of people that can be recruited during a crisis.

Tiadrin tried to think of a counter-argument but couldn't. Lain and Janai were impressed with Vaeril's knowledge.

"If you ever want give up the ways of the book and join our military then let me know, I'm sure I can convince my sister to approve of you," Janai knew talent when she saw it, this elf had it in abundance and she wanted to recruit him, it would take time to train him but what a commander he would become. She wondered if she could offer access to their entire archives in exchange for his services.

the event continued well into the evening, by then all had retired to their rooms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chimney heads = sunfire elves  
> flippers = tidebound elves  
> reflections = moonshadow elves  
> mud crawlers = earthblood elves  
> flying chickens = skywing elves  
> sparkle heads = startouched elves
> 
> the elven races came up with these names for each other after several wars against each other.
> 
> \--------
> 
> war bows have a range over 320m  
> a cross bow has a range of 190-210m  
> the ballista has a 440m range  
> trebuchet has a range of 380m
> 
> yes dragon scales are tough though not indestructible.
> 
> \-------
> 
> black/gun powder is made from Charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur.... because why create my own version when real life has already managed to create an effective recipe.  
> https://www.britannica.com/technology/gunpowder
> 
> Modern guns use smokeless propellant i.e Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerin (double-base propellant)  
> A triple-base propellant uses nitroguanidine as a third component which is used for very big guns.  
> they allow a projectile to fly at much higher velocities than what can be achieved using gun powder. Plus its less corrosive than gun powder.
> 
> Originally soldiers wore colorful uniforms to make it easier to tell friend from foe, basically an ancient IFF system because it a confusing fight, it helps to know which colorful people are your allies.  
> The first guns made had a very short range and poor accuracy so the colorful uniforms weren't an issue. Then came better firearms with exceptional range. Turns out dressing up as a fruit salad makes you far easier to see.
> 
> \------------
> 
> real world info:  
> In our world the pope had made a decree banning the use of missile weapons (bows, crossbows, etc) against other Christians, claiming these weapons were an abomination and threatened excommunication from the church if anyone violated it.
> 
> Beside one guy, every other feudal lord basically went "nah, I think I'll keep using these weapon" because no one worth their salt is gonna give up the advantage of ranged weaponry just because some guy wearing night gown and a funny hat told em to. If the pope honestly tried to enforce it he risked pissing off a lot of lords. 
> 
> There was a law in England that all citizens had to train to use the bow in case of war.


	9. Conference (11 Years Ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> world map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png  
> \--------------  
>  _ **[[ This chapter takes place in the past 11 years before the main story]]**_
> 
> Xadia learns that humans have somehow crossed the veil and have returned, they gather to discuss how to best deal with the return of this old enemy they thought was gone for good. 
> 
> will the new crossbows and ballistas of the sunfire elves make any difference in the coming battle?
> 
> will Janai succeed in recruiting the odd scholar she found? 
> 
>   
> meanwhile the humans are busy setting things up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vaeril's theme music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzOSuoEAKVk  
> I'm glad I found this, I was playing this while writing this chapter, 
> 
> Xadian strategy: https://i.imgur.com/CBkvuEn.png  
> in case you need help following along. the brow lines in the bottom refer to unfinished areas.  
> \---------------------------------------------------------------------

Lux Aurea, Two Days Later.

The entire city was under tight security. The grand hall was empty as the other guests were to remain in their quarters.

"Why did you call an emergency session of the Council of Xadia?" King Aavizandum spoke. He hoped for their sake this was not some ploy to get him and his mate to come and see their new playthings. The dragon guard were standing next to their monarchs. All of the elves except Vaeril seemed to be dressed for some grand celebration, though Vaeril wanted to be elsewhere as he hated these kinds of meetings especially since he was kidnapped and dragged here by the golden knight herself.

"Humans have crossed the veil." Queen Khessa cut to the point with a cold and neutral tone.  
Avizandum was staring at her, unable to utter a response. Then he turned to Zubeia to confirm if his ears heard it correctly. The others present started murmuring amongst themselves. 

Queen Khessa asked for silence, "My scouts encountered them during a routine patrol, the lone survivor made it back, he will now tell you what he has already reported to me." She then had the person brought in who he began to detail what he witnessed, barely able to hold his nerves as the gazes directed towards him made him feel like a cornered rat.

"How?!" a Skywign elf stood up. 

"What does it matter how they crossed over, what matters is what we are going to do about it." An earthblood elf interjected.

"We attack them of course," A tidebound elf stated bluntly.

"for what reason?" A Moonshadow elf asked

"They attacked us or do you want me to tell you the names of my men who died!" A general for the Sunfire elves countered.

"Because you attacked them first." The Moonshadow king countered back. "If they attack us it will be cause you struck first."

As Vaeril knew it would happen, the meeting quickly devolved into a self sustaining back and forth of insults that lead to nowhere. Two hours had passed and Vaeril was growing frustrated thinking _"Damn these fools, does no one even care what objectives these humans are trying to accomplish here?"_

Janai was holding in her anger as her hand was gripped the hilt of her blade, her sister was waiting for everyone to calm down before saying anything. She looked to see the Dragon Guard and Startouched elves keeping their silence, no doubt not wanting to be entangled in this mess and she couldn't blame them as she held similar feelings. She turned to see Vaeril's face scrunched up in frustration she felt like he was about to murder half the people in the room, something she felt inclined to aid him if he decided to do. _"Come on, Vaeril I didn't argue with my sister and Avizandum for hours and forcefully dragged you here just so you can make angry faces."_ She hoped he would say something.

"They were banished from Xadia long ago, they have no right to return here" The earthblood elf added

"Yet we had the right to banish the all innocent with the guilty?" A startouched elf finally spoke up. "But please keep arguing amongst yourselves like pitiful children while they are preparing to do whatever it is they came here to do."

"If we don't launch a massive retaliation against the other side then they will view it as a sign of weakness and become emboldened."

"Retaliation, retaliation against who exactly?" Vaeril had had enough of this nonsense, he no longer cared if he was someone who had no business being here. 

An earth blood elf stood up and pointed accusingly at Vaeril "What can a mere paper pusher like you offer in this meeting?" 

Vaeril merely offered a cold glare at him, which silenced the entire room as everyone felt their blood run cold for some reason. They all wondered if this man was merely a scholar while emitting that kind of pressure. The star touched elves whose long lives had allowed them to live through nearly every war that had occurred over the millennia knew full well what Vaeril would be capable of if he ever chose to walk down the _**that**_ path.

"Just what kind of being have you convinced me to allow into this meeting?" Khessa turned to her sister, sweat trickled down her forehead.

Janai smiled at her "The kind I want to recruit." She definitely would find a way to recruit him now.

"I am indeed a paper pusher, a paper pusher who seems to be the only person smart enough to ask what their objectives even are or any other crucial information,"

"Do those even matter?" the earthblood elf struggled to speak, his anger from before replaced by fear.

"Humans operate under multiple nations, so do you know if this the will of all of humanity or just one nation?" Vaeril asked

the startouched elves looked at him with fascination, and one added to his statement, "If it's just one nation, then attacking all of humanity would just unite them all against us."

"Does anyone here know what objectives the humans are trying to accomplish here? do they seek to gain territory? do they seek to harvest Xadian life to wage war against another human nation? do they seek something else entirely?" Vaeril spent a good half hour making his case, with the startouched elf's unanimously taking his side while anyone who objected was easily shot down with a sentence or two.

"The tidebound is correct, so our only course of action is to drive them back to the other side and place garrisons along the veil to prevent this incident from happening again, furthermore any human that surrenders will not be killed." Avizandum knew prolonging this meeting would be pointless. He noticed the startouched elves weren't objecting to his idea.

"would that be enough?" Queen Khessa was not sure if the other side would merely give up that easily.

A startouched elf countered "With this, the other human nations would see it as us defending our borders and have no reason to become involved unless we decide to cross over."

"First send out scouts to gather intelligence while we ready our forces" Avizandum added before turning to Vaeril. "You impress me, I'm appointing you to oversee our strategy."

"Why me?" Vaeril was confused, he certainly knew military history but that hardly made him fit for commanding an army.

Zubeia turned to him offering a gentle smile, "Lady Janai had spent hours arguing with Queen Khessa and Avizandum to allow you to be present, a normal person you would've just kept their head down." She then turned to the others "I'm certain those with experience _WILL_ lend you their knowledge" no one dared to argue with her.

\-------------

Days later at the border.

General Cornelius had been laughing unusually often these past few days. 

"Is this really funny." Henry asked

"It is, I can't wait to see their faces when we unveil our little surprise gahahahahaha!" 

"I still can't understand what you're thinking, why move all our flight mages and dual purpose guns to the back, not only that you've ordered all construction of the trenches to cease along with removing all the barbed wire, just what in this world are you even scheming?!?"

"You will figure it out my young apprentice, its not that difficult"

"Since when have I ever been able to figure out what goes on in that head of yours?" Henry rebuked him.

Then a man entered and saluted "Sir, another group of skywing elves just flew by"

"eehehehe they can look as many times as they want ahahahahaha!"

The soldier turned to Henry in confusion

"Don't bother, I gave up trying to figure him out days ago" Henry sighed in exasperation, "Whats the status of the radar tower?"

"Sir, due to the lack of equipment our engineering had to jury rig a solution so its only good for a radius of 8.4 km"

"It should be fine, send a message back to Lord Belmont to see if he can help speed things along ehehahahaha" The general was unable to not laugh at anything at this point. "Are the tanks in position?" 

"yes sir, the light and medium tanks have been moved to our southern flanks. All our heavy tanks and self-propelled weapons have been moved closer to the trenches. "

"And the mines?"

"They've been buried as per your orders"

"Excellent, gahahahahahaha! Now all we have to do is wait and see if the enemy will dance to our tune. ahahahaha...." then he began to cough violently.

"I knew this would happen" Henry sighed and went to get a medic.

\-----------

Lux Aurea, One Week Later.

Everyone had gathered for the second meeting, Janai had spent the entire week dragging Vaeril everywhere when he'd much rather be in the archives burying himself in books.

"We have 46,000 regular infantry, 8000 archers, 18000 additional infantry equipped with crossbows, 4,000 ground cavalry, 2000, air cavalry, 4,000 mages, and 60 dragons" 

Vaeril had spent days going over the military records and maps of the region along with what intelligence their scouts had brought in but he had no idea what he was dealing with. 

Janai had agreed that she would explain his strategy to everyone, then pointed to an area on the map "Their position is surrounded by these lines they dug themselves, according to the reports, humans were seen walking through them, there are also strange buildings built right behind those lines." 

"yes but why?" A skywing elf asked

Vaeril answered for her, "My guess is that they will be used by spear-men to take cover from archers and break up any cavalry charges. Their troops all seem to be carrying some kind of iron staves with them, but they seem to wear no armor for some reason, perhaps they use a type of padded armor instead." 

Janai pointed to another area marked, "Next is this iron tower they have built, then there are the reports of long iron pipes attached to strange structures which are being placed in certain areas, those are marked by stars. I have no idea what purpose they might serve." Vaeril was curious about them and hoped they could take some prisoners because he wanted to ask them about everything on the other side. 

He and Janai kept going over details before Avizandum asked  
"So what is our strategy?"

she took a deep breath "First we use the bulk of our forces which is designated 'group A' to draw their attention. Our forces will march slowly towards them making them think we have come to offer them a chance to withdraw, once they lower their guard we charge at them till their mages start firing off spells towards us. The tidebound mages will create a massive ice barrier and the earrhtblood elves will create stone pillars to support it, we will use star magic to make the ice see-through to ensure commanders can't get blindsided while behind."

She turned to see if anyone had any objections before continuing, 'group B' will consist of earthblood elves tunneling underground towards to those trenches and neutralize them."

"The area in the south appears to be unfinished and there are more trees there's, Group C which is made up of infantry, crossbowmen, and archers, moon mages will cast illusions to hide them and move through the trees. 'Group D' will be similar but made up entirely of cavalry" Both are to flank them from the southern part but wait till the ice barrier is erected before launching an attack. 'Group D' will reveal themselves first and charge once they are close enough, only when the enemy engages them will 'group C' will attack."

She turned to face everyone "Is everyone able to follow so far?" They all nodded or kept silent.

"Finally 'group E' will be made up entirely of dragons and airborne units. they will stay above the clouds and dive towards the enemy only after the ice wall is erected, the dragons will dive first followed by everyone else. the dragons will use their fire breath then the airborne units will enter the fray, once their lines are thrown into chaos then we will bring down the ice barrier and charge the enemy to overwhelm them."

She took a few deep breaths "That concludes our strategy, if you want further clarifications on anything then ask Vaeril"  
The tidebound scholar seemed almost insulted by her last sentence though Janai put up an innocent look in defense, He found himself swamped by people before he could even protest.

Khessa walked to her sister "Did he really come up with this strategy?"

"Indeed he did, he simply said he based his plans on historical records he'd read." Janai was jovial.

"So what do you need to recruit him" Khessa knew accepting a non-Sunfire elf will be a political headache and hoped they wouldn't need to offer something outlandish.

"the archives, he is passionate about books so having plenty of those is enough"

"You mean I just need to allocate the budget to find more books for the archives?" this made no sense to her, normally she'd expect demands of wealth or status or something grand, this was trivially easy to grant.

"You'll probably need to hire an architect from the archipelago just to make sure his stay here will be as comfortable as possible" Janai then wondered about that iron tower, Vaeril kept saying that it had to have some kind of significance, but she couldn't think of anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since its been many years since the last war in Xadia took place, many have grown complacent and the military became more of a political entity that acted as police force rather than a unit of national defense.
> 
> When wars start the majority of their troops are conscripts .
> 
> Xadian weaponry is rather medieval, and they are made from Iron.
> 
> Xadian iron doesn't rust as easily due to the all the magical energy it has absorbed while buried underground as ore. Now melting it down causes it to lose all that energy but you get a slightly stronger iron, However its still inferior to steel which Xadia doesn't have or know how to make.
> 
> I've been trying to find away to make Rayla's butterfly knives and Runaan's dual sword bow work. so far I have come to the conclusion that the rock climbing blade from Rayla's knives will not work. So they will be a separate part of it as in the show the rock climbing blade just comes out of nowhere. If its purely mechanical then I really can't make something come out of thin air. 
> 
> Runaan's bow so far I have an idea, but I'm still unsure about it  
> https://64.media.tumblr.com/9055a8740468913456652146e1417f6b/tumblr_pfit6y35HM1v7apkdo1_500.jpg
> 
> and no Runaan won't be in the army.


	10. IRON vs STEEL - Part 1 (11 Years ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the grim dark retelling of the past, there is only WAR
> 
> The first battle begins
> 
> world map: https://i.imgur.com/YxuswNy.png  
> Xadian strategy: https://i.imgur.com/CBkvuEn.png
> 
> \---------  
> Objectives:
> 
> Dukedom: To seize territory and resources  
> Xadia: To drive away the invaders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: MENTIONS OF DEATHS, BLOOD, GORE ARE PRESENT, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL
> 
> Yes this chapter is also about events taking place in the past
> 
> This is part 1 because when writing this chapter, I ended up making it the length of two.
> 
> ================================================

Lux Aurea, Three Days Later.

The Golden City was known for its golden roofs and white marble while walls. The city boasted the largest population in all of Xadia, but that number swelled with people from the other kingdoms. When they announced that humans had broken through the veil, the people had reacted with shock and bewilderment. However, their anxiety was quickly replaced with determination as the Council of Xadia announced that they had formed an alliance and would spend a unified force. 

All nations had ordered full mobilization though it would be weeks before they could march out, it was thanks to the demonstrations held within Lux Aurea that they had a massive force ready to move out. Within days their numbers rose as many joined their growing army. To many, this felt like fate had conspired to ensure Xadia would meet this threat head-on as such an endeavor would take several months to prepare under normal circumstances.

Their troop's numbers had increased to 54,000 melee infantry, 20,600 crossbowmen, 9800 archers, 5300 mages, 4,000 melee cavalries, 1500 horse archers, 6500 air cavalry, 2300 winged skywing elves, and 200 dragons. They had 40 ballista's and 20 trebuchets ready as well. The main issue was finding enough capable officers on such short notice.

Meanwhile, inside the palace ground, Vaeril was being lectured by Janai.  
"Straighten your posture when riding."

Vaeril had been doing this since morning, "Is it necessary for me to be in the front of it all?"

"You're one of the leaders of the unified front, so you better get used to it," Janai was smirking.

"By being kidnapped by you!" he snapped back.

"You could've just kept your mouth shut then." she countered bluntly.

"Only because I didn't want to suffer another hour of them bickering like a bunch of married couples after finding out they've all been cheating on each other" He wore an expression filled with contempt.

"Nothing you can do about it now, it is YOUR plan, so YOU get to ride with us."

"Ignoring my predicament which you already seem to be doing, do we really need to do this at all??" he couldn't understand why they needed to delay their departure even further.

"We need to raise the morale and sense of solidarity of the people and most importantly the troops last thing we need is for them to start fighting amongst themselves, and we need more time for the supply lines to be ready."

\-------------------------

Three Days Later.

The city had wide roads that connected the palace at the center to the city walls. Ordinarily, these central roads would be used by people, carts, and carriages, with merchants setting up stalls on the sides. It was both a transportation network and a large scale commercial zone.

However, today they were being used for their original purpose as a massive army marched through them. Those standing nearby claimed they could feel the ground tremble with each harmonized step the army took. 

At the front of this army riding on horseback were its leaders followed by the kings and queens of each nation, they wore black uniforms with broad golden epaulets. Avizandum, Zubeia, and eight other Arch-dragons right behind them. To their flanks were long rows of standard-bearers who were not carrying the flags of each nation but that of the council. 

Vaeril tried to maintain his composure, he was used to reading and researching historical events, not being in the middle of them. He tried his best to imitate his colleagues who moved at a practiced pace while ignoring the cheering crowds. He spent the previous day learning to act his part with Janai not giving him a break.

Following close behind them were massive rows of columns of infantry armed with swords, shields, and spears, behind them, were mages, archers, crossbowmen, dragons, cavalry, and at the very rear were ballistas and trebuchets pulled by beasts of burden. Only the dragons and airborne units were missing but no one seemed to notice that. On the roofs of many buildings were choirs dressed in togas singing the anthem of the council which hadn't been sung since a thousand years ago.

To their sides were large crowds cheering as the army marched past them. The troops all wore expressions of pride and determination, they were confident of victory as it had been more than a thousand years since such a powerful force was assembled. The citizenry was even more certain of victory after witnessing the sight before them, to the average xadian an army comprising of all sentient species in Xadia was something straight out of a legend. Many yelled out shouts of encouragement and proclamations of their victorious return like their fore-bearers. All remembered the stories they were told in their youths of how a unified Xadia had defeated humanity and banished them, they all felt in their hearts that this time would be no different.

The army stopped in unison as the front reached the outer gates, after a moment the massive gates slowly swung open to let them pass. Then from behind, over a hundred dragons and thousands of airborne units flew overhead and past the gates before landing outside. They quickly formed rank. After the army had marched past them, they formed up on the rear.

\--------------------

Meanwhile in a command bunker dug into a hill in the northwest, and General Cornelius had finally stopped his boisterous laughing. Henry looked at his pad and read out the details "We currently have 3 full companies of flight mages, all of whom you've give secret orders to just like the other 2 platoons so we have no flight mages anymore.

40 light tanks,  
50 medium tanks,  
28 heavy tanks,  
20 self-propelled gun,  
10 self-propelled rocket platforms,  
15,000 regular infantry, 4,000 of which can be used to support any armored push if we need to.  
5,000 combat mages,  
40 fixed artillery pieces,  
20 dual-purpose guns at the rear,  
40 light anti-air machine guns,

Thermal scopes have been equipped on all tanks and key locations, and the floodlights are all operations as are all the mines, however, the radar is still not doing any better." He looked up from his pad. "That's it general, we've done all we can to prepare and it'll be another month before they can send us any more additional troops or equipment outside of supplies and munitions" 

"Are the radios working properly?" Cornelius asked

"Yes sir, no problems found."

"Then our chances of victory are still high, I would've preferred doing this after having all my pieces ready."

"We may have better weapons but if they charge at us without any regard to the cost then they could easily overrun us,"

"True but they have mostly melee troops so our main concern should be the dragons and mages."

"It would've been nice if we could've been given a few airships" Henry mused

"we would've been found out sooner if we had even one, In any case the enemy has already heading here so no point in worry about what we can't change." Cornelius said, _"one way or another this will end in a victory for us"_

\-----------------------------------------------------

Two Weeks later, the Xadian army had set up camp fifteen kilometers from the enemy. Queen Khessa stood before them all

"Over a thousand years ago humans had created the barbarity we call dark magic, they stole the lives of many of our people to fuel their spells, to fuel their so-called civilization. Our only hope for survival was to unify against them, we did not fight for vengeance or out of anger, but to protect ourselves, our friends, our families, our people. We came out of it triumphantly and chose to spare them by banishing them. Now they have returned to xadia and threaten to visit upon us the same horrors they did a millennia ago. Those of you who feel like you can't fight this great evil may return to your homes but those who choose to stay, know that you walk the same path our fore bearers did and we MUST achieve victory to not sully their achievements." she held her arms out towards the army "Will you fight with us and drive out this enemy to protect all our people?"

The area erupted into thunderous cheering in response to her words, she continued to stoke their emotions, their pride, the fears, every string she could pull she went for it using the oratory skills she learned throughout her rule. 

"Your sister is a damn convincing liar," Vaeril found it admirable how she could say all of that with a straight face, he knew enough history to tell most of it were fabrications.

"At least it is working, do you have any idea how problematic easily demoralized troops are?" Janai said

"I understand your issue, outside of us startouched elves and the dragons, those from short-lived races do not know any better so its easy to raise their morale with such omissions, exaggerations, and fabrications." A startouched elf standing next to him said. "As vexing as it is, morale often plays a crucial role in battles so in this case we can overlook it."

\---------

Noon the next day,

The lumbering Xadian army had managed to arrive at the battlefield, they had Avizandum call forth a thunderstorm which lowered visibility and the mud slowed them but it had the benefit of empowering the skywing elves and tidebound elves. They had created illusions to make it appear as if their airborne units were still with the main army and not soaring above the clouds waiting for the time to strike.

Vaeril sitting atop the ambler tried to see through the rain using his spyglass and saw 6500 human troops were placed 300 meters ahead of their trenches, only 800 meters from the xadian army. 

"The ones in front are on one knee while the ones behind are standing, they have those iron staves pointed towards us with their eyes lined along its length. I think they maybe a type of crossbow." he said

Janai quickly looked through her spyglasses to confirm "I think you are right, but I do not see them carrying any swords."

"Maybe they are to fire a few bolts then fall back to cover?" an earthblood elf suggested a possibility.

As soon as the order was given for the xadian army to move, the Sunfire elves formed a large shield wall in front as they slowly moved, then abruptly began to charge. Vaeril looked to see the humans weren't panicking, as soon as they were within 500 meters he saw small flashes of light from their staves followed by numerous small thunderclaps that could be heard over the storm they had summoned. Then immediately the front line troops felt something pierce their bodies right through their shields while others were consumed by explosions. The explosions seemed only kill those closest to the blast while everyone suffered minor injuries. 

The Xadian leadership and army fell into a panic by this sudden attack, but Vaeril immediately ordered them to use a sun wall formation. The front line was quickly replaced by more Sunfire elves, they held their ground with their large shields which projected a glowing barrier in front of them. This rendered them immobile but it managed, for the most part, to hold against this strange attack they were being subjected to. However, occasional lapses in concentration caused the barrier to falter allowed the humans to deal significant damage.

Soon earth dragons and earthblood elves created large earthen barriers that was 8 meters high which was 20 meters in front of them, the Sunfire elves dropped their barrier and moved forward, they formed a barrier again. Archers began to shoot over the walls hoping to at least cause the enemy to panic despite knowing that they needed to get closer for their bows to be effective.

"Damn, what kind of magic is this?! how do we fight this?!" Khessa turned around, her confusion and shock were visible.

"We're not done yet, order the Sunfire elves to move to the earth walls and form another barrier, we'll slowly push forward using them and earth walls." Vaeril was confused, this was his first time seeing a battle, let alone leading one yet he felt calm being here as if he longed for it somewhere within himself, he could think more clearly now than ever before. "We'll have to rely on the other groups to deal the finishing blow because it'll take a while for us to reach them."

They slowly began to move forward and the humans in response slowly fell back. They had managed to move 100 meters so far which was slow any standard that was used. As the earth wall collapse, they saw the humans slowly falling back, this caused morale to rise among the beleaguered xadians who now began to cheer. The euphoria was shared by the leadership as well, they once again felt that they were assured victory.

"Look!" Janai called every one, they all looked through their spyglasses and saw those strange iron behemoths to be moving towards them. "Just what are those things?"

Their attention was focused on the iron pipe attached to each one which reminded them of the iron staves the infantry held, their faces contorted with horror wondering just how powerful something that size would be.

\-------------------

Within their secured bunker, General Cornelius was looking over the battlefield, the bunker gave him an amazing vantage point with almost no risks.  
"Sir, the heavy tanks have reach the infantry," said the radio operator.

"Good, tell the infantry to use their under-barreled smoke grenades before falling back to the trenches, the tanks will cover them before heading back." he then turned to his protege. "What do you think?"

Henry looked at the battlefield "The tanks should have no problem dealing wit..."

"Not our tanks my naive protege, I'm talking about the enemy's barriers"

"It is effective as an emergency defense but doesn't offer any mobility" Henry felt that was the correct answer.

"good, you got half of it, the other half is that they do not need to carry any heavy equipment for such a thing, which we can't emulate due to the limitations of etherium, well not unless we have a reactor with us." He explained to Henry, he knew nothing would teach him better than experience gained from a real battle. 

\---------------------------------

As the earth wall fell, the Xadian army saw several great big iron behemoths moving towards them and saw the humans who pointed their staves upwards. Though they didn't know how these strange weapons worked or what they even were, but they all recognized the stance of someone aiming a bow or crossbow upwards. The earth wall was quickly raised and shield barriers were used to form a protective roof over their heads.

Vaeril, Janai, and the others saw the infantry shooting something then ran to the iron behemoths, it hitthe ground and began to spew smoke which reduced visibility greatly. Soon the sound of explosions erutped from iron pipes attached to the behemoths, the same could be seen from beyond the trenches. The earth wall shook violently under the attack, though nothing penetrated it, but chunks of it rained down on them, the fact that they turned to dirt easily meant that no damage would be done but the effect was clear for all to see. Some of the attacks went over the wall hitting the xadians directly and exploded, tearing through the infantry lines with ease. Many broke into a panic as they saw the people who they just met and befriended being reduced to chunks of meat and sprays of blood under a violent explosion.

For the Xadian army who came here in such high spirits certain of victory, their spirits were being smashed against the rocks. The humans who were weaker than them and couldn't use magic were now using weapons and things that they couldn't even understand let alone counter. The leaders knew under this kind of continued pressure, their minds would eventually succumb and the army would fall apart.

"Erect the ice barrier immediately!" Vaeril ordered, "Send messengers to the hidden units to begin their assault, and dissolve the illusions." He knew his force would never make it to the enemy in one piece so he had to rely on the enemy panicking and focusing all their attention on him. 

The tidebound elves and water dragons were waiting patiently for this, they began to cast their magic and a massive barrier of ice started to form using the rainwater as material, and formed a semi-dome over them. The Sunfire elves pushed their shields against it imbuing it with their barrier to strengthen it, the massive barrier was held up using pillars and walls of stone to prevent it from collapsing under its weight. Then the startouched elves cast their magic to make the barrier see-through and finally, the moon mages dissolved the illusion they had maintained for so long. 

They all hoped this would work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for the military parade from wondering what to do with what to do with he troops already in the golden city 
> 
> \-----------------
> 
> Magic in my world has a 10 second cooldown between each spell use.
> 
> Keep in mind that physically elves are much stronger and faster than humans.
> 
> \--------------------
> 
> Self-propelled guns means artillery or weapons placed on a mobile platform, put a howitzer on a vehicle dedicated to moving it around and you get a self-propelled gun, rockets and missiles also apply to this definition.
> 
> dual purpose guns are medium sized cannons that can function as both anti-air and anti-tank gun. 
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41
> 
> in WWII ships had dual purpose guns equipped as secondary armaments because having cannons that can fulfill multiple roles is great considering how little real-estate there is to work with.
> 
> tank/artillery shells are either High explosive (HE) or Armor Piercing (AP)  
> \------------------------
> 
> combat mages use spells to make the bullets from their rifles explode on impact, basically they are carrying bazooka's :P  
> they also have another spell though it causes one to be hit by a massive pressure wave.
> 
> flight mages are combat mages that can fly except they are elites, basically flight mages are an elite only club.
> 
> \------------------------
> 
> Light tanks look like the German Panzer I but with a flame thrower  
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/SdKfz101.jpg
> 
> \--------------------
> 
> In WWI mine warfare involved digging tunnels and then placing a lot of explosives at the far end, then detonating them after everyone was out. The risk was that the enemy might hear you digging or you might accidentally run into the enemy digging their own tunnel to place mines under you.  
> Because of the artillery going off above ground, there was always the risk of the tunnel collapsing and burying you alive. 
> 
> in WWII mines were triggered by changes in weight, pressure or magnetic fields or anything else that was designed to trigger an explosion.  
> https://www.britannica.com/technology/mine-weapon
> 
> \-------------


	11. IRON vs STEEL - Part 2 (11 Years ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's PART 2 (double chapters todays)
> 
> The dragon's begin their descent as the xadian army is pinned down by heavy artillery. 
> 
> Will Xadia's strategy pay off ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: MENTIONS OF DEATHS, BLOOD, GORE ARE PRESENT, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL
> 
> Yes this chapter is also about events taking place in the past
> 
> ================================

A large portion of the Xadian army just disappeared, the human officers were confused and asked for confirmation of what they just saw.

Meanwhile, in the command bunker, Henry was thrown into a panic trying to figure out what was going on, he quickly began to hypothesize "Maybe those troops never existed, no thats mere wishful fantasy, they must be hidden elsewhere but where exactly?" He was trying to think what would be the best response to this situation should have the men pullback or something else.

General Cornelius sighed as he saw his protege agonizing over this "Henry, calm down, this is not that difficult to figure out."

"Sir, how can I calm down at all in this situation?"

"Let me ask you a question, why did they erect such a massive barrier and show us their troops at the back were mere illusions?" the general was playing with a pen in his hand.

"To make us divert our attention elsewhere while they..."

"Hardly, its more beneficial to not let us see through that barrier, they wanted us to focus our attention on them... now why would they go through the trouble of showing us anything?"

"Sir?"

General Cornelius sighed in exasperation, "Here's another question, of the Xadian army, which races disappeared from view?" The general hoped he wouldn't have to spell it out for him.

"Let's see.." he tried to remember the enemy formations "... the Moonshadow elves, earthblood elves, skywing elves, and winged dragons and airborne cavalry."

"Good, now how will they move?"

"hmmm.." his brow furrowed with thought, "Moonshadow elves can stay invisible to they'll likely try to flank us from our south, as for the earthblood elves the best use for their skills would be for earth walls... tunnels!!!! they are underneath us!!! damn bastards!" 

General Cornelius offered a smile, "Good, good, which is why I ordered the mines to be buried deep under the ground." 

"But that doesn't mean we know where they'll come fro..." Then suddenly several massive explosions could be seen close to their southern flank near where the trenches ended. 

"But how?

"Trenches filled with enemy troops, it was obvious how they would try to deal with them since there was only one location where they could expect reinforcements."

 _"perhaps obvious for you to figure out!"_ Henry retorted in his mind

General Cornelius decided to explain further "The moonshadow elves are indeed invisible and slowly approaching our southern flank... and our light and medium tanks are equipped with thermal scopes, wasn't it nice of the enemy to lower the ambient temperature by causing this storm." He broke out into a smile.

"So we're completely safe them" Henry let out a sigh of relief.

"Oi!, aren't you forgetting the winged ones?" Cornelius cocked an eyebrow.

Henry fell into a panic, realizing what he meant. "The large anti-air guns won't be enough to deal with them diving straight at us."

Cornelius nodded and pointed his finger upwards, "Yes, as we speak they are flying above and probably diving towards us as we speak," he was being unusually cheerful. "So how would YOU respond to this dilemma, do you send the tanks to deal with the moonshadow elves then come back to deal with the winged enemy, OR, do you keep them here to deal with the winged ones first before going after the enemy hiding in our flanks?"

Henry tried to think of the best solution, _"the anti-air guns won't be enough, if I moved the tanks to deal with one then the other could be able to deliver a crippling strike, if I split them up it might not work at all."_

He kept wracking his brain trying to think, then his eyes widened as he remembered one of the secret orders he had to deliver on the general's behalf.

Cornelius watched with a wry smile on his face as he saw his protege suddenly stop panicking _"Good, he understands."_

Henry turned around, "I don't have to make a decision, do I?" a thin smile forming on his face, "You knew this would happen which I why you gave special orders to the flight mages, I assume they're hiding around here somewhere, and I take it you've managed to con the entire staff here to put me through this haven't you" He turned to look outside.

"Indeed, you are correct on both counts" he gestured to the radio "Now if you would be so kind as ..."

Before he could finish Henry went to the radio operator who was smiling like his superior. "Order all three companies of flight mages to take off and intercept the airborne cavalry that will be close behind the dragons, have all anti-air guns shoot the dragons to keep them from noticing the flight mages."

"Good now all that's left is our flanks,"

Henry turned to the radio operator, "Would you care to do the honors?"

The operator nodded "With pleasure" and then gave out the orders.

\---------------------------------

Through the barrier everyone saw massive explosions coming from their western flank, they were clearly visible and audible despite the enormous distance as an unimaginable amount of dirt and rock were blown into the air. They feared what would happen to anyone caught in it.

"What were those explosions?" someone cried out

"Wasn't that where the tunneling teams were heading?"

Panic spread throughout the Xadian forces, no one knew what they were fighting anymore, the war was quickly turning into a one-sided massacre.

"Damn, what kind of weapons or magic are we facing here?" Vaeril couldn't make sense of this battle and no one else seem to have an idea, even the long-lived startouched elves were clueless for once.

They all looked above as explosions erupted on the ice barrier, they would've considered it an amazing sight if it wasn't something so deadly. The ice barrier had several large cracks, they all hoped it would manage to withstand this ever increasing onslaught.They struggled to repair it but several shots managed to penetrate it, their casualties were mounting. they hoped the bombardment would ease up if they undid the illusion but it seemed to have just made them more serious about taking them out.  
\-------------------------------

Avizandum along with 109 other dragons began their descent as soon as they saw the massive explosions after the ice barrier, far above them were the airborne cavalry and skywing elves waiting for them to land first before they could descend. He didn't understand what could create such explosions he kept seeing from afar but he felt relieved that the enemy would be too preoccupied to nice their surprise attack.

As he closed in he was met with an onslaught of strange metal pieces flying towards him, they easily bounced off his scales, but the larger ones exploded on impact, he noticed he was bleeding and should avoid any further hits, "Cover you eyes quickly!" he moved to cover his eyes with his claws while he began to heal his wounds. But this meant he didn't notice the 750 mages flying towards the airborne units behind him.

He and the other dragons accelerated and once they were close enough to the ground, they opened with fiery breaths before pulling up creating trails of fire in their wake. They landed and began to destroy everything in sight.

The arch dragons switched to their elemental breaths to increase their damage which was unique to them, a normal dragon could only spew regular flames.

The storm dragons began to spew lightning which were far more powerful than a lightning strike, it rendered all the electrical equipment that were connected to each other worthless, they were wrapped in an electrical storm that would strike anything that was within 100 meters of them.

The sun dragon's breath became so hot that it easily melted steel. Their bodies became wreathed in flames that would melt anything that maintained contact for long enough. A group of humans found themselves pinned under an arch sun dragon, they looked up in terrors at its gaping maw, it bellowed a roar that incinerated them easily leaving nothing but fine ash behind.

Star dragons were similar but their firey breath was nearly impossible to guard against, the area hit by it had its air pressure decreased to almost zero in an instant, any human caught in its radius died as their lungs exploded from the difference in air pressure. Even casting _Ventus Spiralus_ wouldn't save them. Gravity itself was stronger around them, anything they hit directly would be on the receiving end of forces that were considered extreme.

The moon dragon's breath while not as deadly causes massive sensory overload to anyone near its flaming breath, anyone standing 70 meters near them would experience hallucinations and finding themselves incapable of telling friends from foe and are overcome with sudden rage and desire to attack anything.

\-------------------------------

The light tank commander put down the radio. "Alright, we're to head to the south to find some Moonshadow elves hiding among the trees. Remember only use the napalm if you have to"

"Roger," the gunner and driver said in unison. To their sides, they saw other tanks moving in the same direction.

As the trees and vegetation became denser the further they went which along with the rain limited their vision, the elves used illusions to disguise themselves as part of the forest. The sound of tracks moving through the forest and snapping branches could be heard. The tanks switched over to their thermal scopes to find their elusive targets.  
"found one, 36 meters ahead, a few more behind, their disguised as trees." the gunner said before he opened fire. The machine guns quickly dispatched them, their bodies fell limp within seconds.

Other light tanks had found similar success, the medium tanks fired High-Explosive shells at any large groups they found while the light tanks went for smaller groups. the death toll quickly began to climb.

The radio suddenly rang, all medium tanks were ordered to return immediately to defend the base while light tanks were to continue.  
"just perfect" the commander groaned, "we're gonna have to use napalm after all, now that our firepower just left" He knew this wouldn't end well for them or the enemy.

As he predicted the elves gave up all pretense of hiding and charged at them after noticing the medium tanks fall back, they shot arrows that bounced off their armor, and their cavalry charges were mowed down like cattle. 

The machine guns were often enough but when a large number of them got too close they had to switch to the flame throwers. The elves found themselves caught in a wall of liquid fire and died screaming as the flames spread and clung to their clothes and armor. The flames wouldn't go out no matter how much they tried rolling around in the wet mud, which only made it more terrifying. 

The elves tried hiding atop the trees waiting in ambush but all that happened was that the entire tree was set aflame. 

The Moonshadow elves became increasingly demoralized as the enemy always seem to know where they hiding, their stealth and the illusions which their people were renowned for and made them so feared were rendered completely worthless. The forests which had been their ally since time immemorial that they had used to achieve great comebacks were being burnt away. 

The stench of cauterized flesh soon began to fill the air, the humans stopped using napalm because they had lost the stomach for it, many struggling with the urge to vomit. Flamethrowers were intended for clearing foliage and not other living beings due to the demoralizing effect it had on their users. The Moonshadow elves retreated as they knew they could do nothing but run away in the face of those things, to them it was like facing a small dragon. 

The two groups that together we're more than 12,000 strong were defeated, though they suffered the least casualties of the entire battle, the manner in which they died was too much for them to handle.

\------------------------------

Above the clouds, the commander of the entire airborne elven unit looked on "Alright, looks like the dragons can devastate the enemy on their own, we'll go after the trenches then join them."

Suddenly the commander and several soldiers were taken out by several spontaneous explosions. Everyone looked around and saw several humans flying towards them,

"What the?!" They all saw it but couldn't believe it, hundred of humans flying towards them with two pairs of wings on their backs, the second pair was small and remained folded. They wore a combination of plate and padded armor, their rifles were affixed with much longer bayonets. 

The Xadians had 8800 troops compared to the humans who numbered 750, but only 2300 were winged skywing elves, the rest were using flying mounts which were slower, the elves were armed with words, spears ad bows. In contrast, each human was already an elite on their own, so the numerical advantage of the Xadians and existed only on paper.

The human flight mages had found themselves on a battlefield that was perfectly suited for them. They formed into squads of five and began their attack and a high-speed aerial battle had begun, only the skywing elves could keep up with them but every time one of them managed to get near to land a strike with their sword or spears they were shot from another direction, their bows were of no use here. The moment a mage began to cast a spell, they immediately found themselves being shot at by humans in the vicinity. 

\--------------

The Xadian army looked on, for the first time since this battle began, they saw the enemy taking massive damage, this lifted their morale, they only needed for the enemy to stop attacking them so they could join in and possible win.

Vaeril was about to cheer when he suddenly slapped himself "Don't get full of yourself" He wracked his brain trying to guess what new weapon they might be targeted by next, all the while hoping he was just being paranoid.

The others turned to him wondering what he was doing, "whats going on?",

"I think the humans have more up their tunics."

"But tha.."

"No buts, every time we thought we were about to get a breakthrough, it was destroyed easily, so stop fantasizing and start thinking!" he barked, "Or have you not noticed that the airborne units still haven't arrived yet?" 

Naturally, they had no way of knowing what was happening above the clouds nor in the southern flanks.

\---------------------------------------------

"Wha..!" General Cornelius was unable to process what he was seeing,  
"How are these dragons this powerful?"

His staff was similarly astonished, none could form a coherent sentence while witnessing the sheer destructive power on full display before them. they watched as regular infantry and combat mages tried to attack them while witnessing others going berserk and attacking their own for no apparent reason. Many had left their stations to see for themselves.

Cornelius quickly managed to regain his sense and walked to the radio operator taking his mic and bellowed his orders "All anti-air cannons are to switch to AP and are to aim for the heads. All units are to maintain at least 150 meters distance at all times, use the floodlights to blind them."

His outburst caused his staff returned to reality and they quickly scrambled back to their posts.

"What's the status of the flight mages and tanks?"

"Expected ETA 6 minutes and 4 minutes respectively sir."

"good, instruct the mages to switch to concussion shots" The General glared menacingly at the battlefield. "Enjoy your little rampage while you can" 

\----------------

Avizandum and the other dragons continued their rampage leaving behind trails of death and destruction. Suddenly their visions were stolen by an intense light, they moved their heads in all directions trying to escape it but the humans persisted in trying to at the very least slow them down. He could make out the silhouette of humans moving about but his visions was useless to rely on.  
Soon they felt the sensation of thousands of projectiles hitting and bouncing off their scales, despite the lack of damage they could tell the humans were beginning to reorganize and regain their morale and within time they would bring more pwoerful weapons to bear against them. They began to shoot their breaths in random directions hoping to destroy the source of this infernal light. As minutes wore on the lights were destroyed but by then, the humans are managed to regain their will to fight.

Avizandum prepared to strike at the enemy but was struck from above, his vision now blurry and experiencing intense disorientation, but no pain which he understood to mean that the attack was problematic even if it couldn't penetrate his scales. As he looked above he strained to see what was attacking him, he managed to make out the forms of winged beings, at first, he thought it might have been the airborne units but their attacks easily disproved that possibility. The fact that the airborne units weren't here yet and its implications weren't lost on him. 

The medium and heavy tanks arrived and began shelling the dragons as the infantry quickly fell back to a more safe position. The artillery continued to pin down the enemy within the barrier while the infantry that remained in the trenches now abandoned their positions to help the tanks and rescue those pined by the dragons.

Soon they found their regenerative abilities were unable to heal them fast enough as they were being overwhelmed by this continuous onslaught. One of the arch dragons had opened its jaws to unleash its breath but suddenly its head was blown off as its body fell limp on the ground. Soon other dragons began to meet similar fates as roars filled with agony were all that could be heard over the unending shelling and gunfire. Avizandum looked desperately for his mate hoping she was alive, to his relief she had only minor injuries but he knew the longer they stayed the less likely they were to survive. _"at this rate... we can't stay here."_ He bellowed in ancient Draconis, ordering all dragons to retreat. they all complied and began to fly off as they tried to avoid being hit midair.

\-----------------

Within the barrier, their morale had been shattered. Everyone knew that they had lost as they witnessed the dragon's, the most powerful beings in xadia were being killed or driven away. Orders to retreat were given as staying any longer meant death, but any attempts at an organized retreat quickly devolved into a rout as men and women ran without regard to save themselves, many fell and were trampled to death by their own side.

The humans did not even try to pursue them and saw no reason to give chase to what was now a disorganized mob that posed no real threat. 

By nightfall the remnants of the army had made camp, they would wait for reinforcements to help them return to the city then decide their future course of action. Only by the next day would the extent of the damage they suffered become apparent. 

\-------------------------------

"How bad are our losses," Cornelius asked as he walked through the devastation.

Henry pursued his lips "We're still not sure but we've lost around 5,000 people with 6,000 injured or traumatized. As for our equipment, I trust I don't need to explain" he gestured to around them.

"Send word to the capital, we'll need more troops and tanks by yesterday, we also need airships and attack crafts otherwise we'll have trouble claiming territory let alone holding it."

"What of the prisoners?"

"We had all 8451 of them coined, sir."

"Were any of their leaders among them?"

"No, sir"

Cornelius pursed his lips "A pity,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the show Avizandum breathed lightning instead of fire and so did Azmondius but I decided to make it something unique to being an arch dragon. So Zym breathes fire until he becomes like his parents. 
> 
> I wasn't sure what exactly made an arch dragon special so I decided to go all in and make them walking disasters. Coming up with their unique abilities was tricky.


	12. The Defeated (11 Years ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the final part for what happened 11 years ago

Two Days Later. 

General Cornelius had called Henry to discuss everything that had transpired.

"Tell me, what do you think the enemy could have done to defeat us?" The General asked like he was talking about the weather while sipping tea.

"As far I could tell, the elves could do nothing without the dragons," He answered after giving it a long moment. He was seated cross his mentor eating some biscuits while going through the most recent reports. 

"Oh, nonsense,  
If the Earthblood elves bypassed our mines and reached our trenches, we'd be screwed.  
If the Moonshadow Elves managed to link up with them at the trenches, then we'd be screwed.  
If the earthblood elves went with the Moonshadow elves against our tanks, we'd be screwed.  
If the airborne units were invisible, then we'd be screwed.  
If they used a layered earth wall defense then our main front would be screwed.  
If all of the above happened, then we'd be seriously screwed." he said as he counted them off his fingers.

"Bottom line, they had the means to defeat us if they knew what they were facing." He stated bluntly without any hesitation.

"So will the coming battles be costlier?" Henry didn't like where this was going.

"Depends on the composition of their troops, however, dive-bombing by dragons will be our main threat followed by earthblood elves who can just overturn our tanks if they got close enough to make an earth wall underneath."

"What do you propose?"

"We wait for our radar to be actually working first, till then we focus on defense while the flight mages do aerial raids on military targets, commercial routes and any messengers to disrupt them."

"To guard against any scaly dive bombers?" Henry guessed, thinking back to the damage they inflicted.

The General nodded, "Exactly, we'll need several of them so we can counter them, till then our armor and infantry stay here. On that note, our mission in the oasis was a success, they brought back quite a haul it seems."

"Any prisoners?"

"Almost 5,000, though once we start the air raids using mages we'll start running out of gold coins"

"why do we even need to coin them?"

"Leverage, the elves will eventually tire of war and when that time comes we can use the coins as a bargaining chip." though he had no idea how many that would entail.

"Would they even accept that?"

"Does it matter? once their people learn of it they'll star pushing their leaders to save the captives. Our goal is territory after all." 

For a few moments none of them spoke, Henry decided to break the silence and ask him something that's been weighing on his mind, "Is it true? the rumors I mean?" Henry had started hearing about them over a year ago but they seem to be getting more frequent.

"Its true, the top brass are planning to launch a massive invasion of Duren, Rustreau, Eshijan and Vosnuavania." 

"So this.."

"yes, our invasion of Xadia is solely to aid in the coming war."

\--------------------

Some distance just outside the human encampment, a pair of Moonshadow elves were looking through spyglasses to see what the humans were doing. They were ordered to keep an eye on the enemy but they spent every moment in fear that the humans already knew of their presence and were merely ignoring them. 

The humans had mages create a massive pit, the elves could tell it was deep based on the amount of earth piled nearby.

An hour later they saw two new iron behemoths, several looked like large iron boxes while the rest had a single large claw-like thing in front. They were accompanied by humans covered head to toe in pure white while wearing some unusual kind of mask. Their backs had a bright red cross on them.

"Just what are they planning to do with those,"

"shhhhh,." 

They saw it heading towards where the ice barrier once stood, the humans in white began to go through the dead, though they couldn't see what they were doing. after some time had passed the humans waved to the behemoths and they brought their giant claws towards the corpses.

"By the moon, are they going to feed the corpses to those things?!" one of them looked on in horror, in fact at this point they still weren't sure if the those things were alive, some sort of golem or something else entirely.

They looked on as the masses of corpses were picked up by that thing and were thrown into the other behemoth, they understood it must have been mostly hollow and used to carry things. They occasionally saw bodies fall from those claws, some were so bad that their organs were spilling out.

"Do wars among humans produce this many dead?"

"I don't know but I fear that to be true. "

The elves looked on in horror while fighting the urge to vomit.

The behemoths brought the bodies and dumped them into the pit. Then the humans in white began pouring in some liquids and powders into it, this continued till all the corpses were taken and the pit was completely buried under dirt. A large block of stone was placed over it and they noticed the humans began to inscribe something on to it before leaving.

"They were burying them?" One of them asked,

"I guess it makes sense, that many bodies would create pestilence if left to rot."

"Don't they need those bodies for dark magic?" They knew dark magic needed material harvested from xadians to perform so it made no sense that they would bury them when they could use them.

"Maybe they only needed a few."

Once it was night, they quietly ventured close to the stone to investigate, they noticed some strange odor as they came closer, it reminded them of lemons. As they approached it they saw the words were written in olden elvish. 

_"Here lies the brave soldiers of Xadia who died during the battle of the Breach,"_  
It was followed by the date of the battle and number of bodies buried.

"Why would they make a tomb for our fallen?" 

"I... don't.. know," the other said as he brushed his fingers against the inscriptions. They continued to look around making sure no one found them.

\-------------------  
1 Week Later.

Inside the city, people were lining up the main roads anticipating the return of the triumphant army that marched out not long ago with the jubilation from that day was still present on their faces.

They began to cheer loudly as they saw the massive gates open. But within moments, their cheers were slowly choked away. What they saw was different from the army that had left in such high spirits. In front of them was an army that had completely lost the will to fight. 

The people noticed something else, the army was half the size that departed. Some called out to the men asking to know what had happened, but the answer they got was complete silence, not even once did they acknowledge the existence of those calling out to them. Those that looked in their direction quickly turned away as they had no way of describing what they had gone through.

Next to enter their view were horse-drawn carts carrying those who were too injured to walk, many of whom had missing limbs, many had bandages soaked in blood. Fear, panic, confusion began to spread.

As time went on they began to learn of what happened, none could believe it at all, none wanted to. They tried to rationalize it as the survivors exaggerating things, but they rebuffed them by simply telling them, "If you don't believe it then go see for yourself,"

\--------------

Two Days Later.

Everyone had convened an emergency conference to discuss the battle after they had time to process everything and going through the reports. They quickly went through how the battle progressed while trying to gain an understanding of the capabilities of the humans for future battles. But they were interrupted as they were notified of a report from the scouts who returned from the sanctuary and an accompanying messenger arrow that just arrived from those that stayed behind. Everyone was staring blankly at the scout who reported what he found and read the message that followed.

Zubeia quickly ran out of the room and flew off to the sanctuary. Avizandum knew there was no point in stopping her and as much as he wanted to go himself, it was more important that he stay here. 

"what do you mean the sanctuary was destroyed?" one of them asked.

"What of the dragon eggs or the dragon guard?" Vaeril wondered whether the egg of the dragon prince or if Lain and Tiadrin were alive.

"The oasis is covered with massive craters, we've found neither the eggs nor the guard." the scout still vividly remembered the devastation he had seen when he arrived, the smell of burnt ash and smoke lingered on his clothes. 

The floor began to crack under Avizandum's claws as his breathing became ragged, he quietly left the room. Minutes later once he was finally outside, he let out a deafening wrathful roar that shook the air around creating a massive thunderstorm. Lightning began to tear through the sky, the wind was strong enough that it could knock down trees and the rain was so intense that it could be heard through even the thickest of rock. In the unending downpour, none could notice the tears flowing down Avizandum's face. During his long life, he had never felt so powerless as he did now. _It's all my fault_ he blamed himself for being complacent and allowing the sanctuary defenses to be lowered despite knowing that it would've made no difference if they had stationed an army there.

His roar was heard by the entire city, everyone quickly left whatever they were doing and ran for shelter as soon as they saw the sky darkening, they knew it was suicide to be outside in this storm. The lightning had destroyed trees and turned the ground it struck into glass.

Back in the conference room, Vaeril had told everyone that they would reconvene once the dragon monarchs had calmed down. they quickly began to prepare for disaster relief. They joked self depricatingly that that this might be worse for their morale than anything the humans could've done

\-------------

Next Day.

They had finally reconvened but Queen Zubeia had returned to the Storm Spire to mourn while Avizandum remained in Lux Aurea.

Vaeril began "Now we shall continue from yesterday. I believe the best way to fight them would be using dragons to perform diving attacks using their breaths then quickly retreating before the humans can counter. After that, it will be using earthblood elves to get close and create earth walls underneath those iron behemoths. All actions will be organized around these two principle strategies."

"The war will be one of attrition and rapid strikes at critical yet isolated targets, large engagements are a last resort only." 

"Is there no other way" Janai wondered if a protracted war of attrition was something they could sustain as their economies would collapse if too many people were conscripted." 

"Large armies marching together in formation are rendered obsolete against those weapons, quick and devastating surgical strike are our only option." 

Avizandum nodded, he saw how effective their attack was despite it being short-lived. "All of dragonkind is fully committed to this fight, we shall follow whatever plans you create."

The startouched elf spoke up "Our people will also follow your commands"

Vaeril cocked an eyebrow "and I believe it's time you explained WHY you value my opinion to an unnatural degree." He was getting tired of this abnormally preferential treatment he'd been subjected to and the fact that he's stuck doing the jobs of these people who shouldn't need his advice in the first place.

Now that he had said it, all the others present realized that Vaeril was scholar who preferred burying himself in research, and not some military leader nor a person with any political influence, it made no sense for the dragon's and startouched elves to be showing so much unquestioning deference towards him in the first place.

"Because only you can lead us now," the startouched elf said though Vaeril noticed that wasn't really an answer of any kind. 

"There is no point in hiding it, he has the right to know this." Avizandum had hoped they wouldn't have to reveal it. " You are what we call an Artisan of War."

"A what?!" Vaeril had never come across such a term before.

Avizandum exhaled "During the great war, to gain an upper hand both sides sought to create military leaders who were vastly superior, to whom war an is an art form. To that end many individual both human and elf were modified against their will." He remembered what Luna Tenebris had passed on to him when he first ascended and told him that this knowledge was to remain buried.

"You are one of their descendants, a universal trait is a deathly glare that chills one to their very core. The moment you silenced the entire conference room we knew what you truly were. "The startouched elf added,

"So you listen to my words because.."

"Because in matters of war, an artisan is the equivalent of a highly experienced and capable military leader."

"Then why aren't there more of.." this made no sense to him, he never recalled anyone in his family ever having anything to do with military matters.

"It's not that simple, we don't know why but only an extremely few of their descendants ever manifest such ability. Those who do manifest it only show a fraction of their ancestors capabilities and they live their lives without ever knowing."

"We sought to bury this matter because we want to avoid a situation where someone might try to recreate anything from that horrible war."

Everyone else was staring at Vaeril as they listened to Avizandum and the startouched elves. Janai was the most shocked, she finally realized that she had been trying to recruit the embodiment of war itself.

"So what should we do?" an earthblood elf asked, this was the same one that caused Vaeril to glare at him during the first conference. He now truly didn't want to anger the tidebound elf. 

"Is there anyway for us to cross the veil?" Vaeril paused, he still didn't believe the whole artisan thing nor did he understand much of it but he felt it did explain a few things, but that could wait for later when he had time to contemplate. 

"What do you have in mind?" 

"We _NEED_ to cross to the other side to gather intelligence as at this point in time we know nothing about our enemy who currently has an upper hand. We need to know about how things are like on the human side and if there is something we can use to fight back."

Avizandum turned to the startouched elves "There is a way but the spell is extremely difficult to learn so it will take time before we can fully train someone to perform it."

"We don't really have a choice." He distantly wondered if maybe he could find some allies among the humans. He hoped they would be willing to share knowledge at least, _we badly need whatever information we can get or we might as well just surrender right now."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thats it for the stuff that happened 11 Years ago
> 
> Next chapter will be back in the present, I will eventually return to the past to cover how Callum and Vaeril met but until then its present day story world stuff.


	13. Living Under The Spectre of....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THE CHEMISTRY I'M MENTIONING HERE IS VERY REAL AND NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD TRY AT HOME
> 
> Rayla's finally has her answers, she asks Callum after a nice delicious dinner.  
> The Confederacy gets early christmas presents
> 
> Music for the final part of this chapter in the castle tower (put it on loop)  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=num18brHU9c

Estarian Confederacy, [REDACTED] Naval Port.

A Katolis naval officer came and saluted, "Sir, the ships and their _cargo_ have now been transferred to the Confederacy,"

"Good, we will handle the rest" Admiral Konstantine saluted to him then offered a handshake. "Rest assured, we have taken every precaution and created a perfect cover story for your stay, we can begin unloading and crewing these ships immediately"

They looked as men and women were entering and leaving the ships like an ant trail. 

\------------------------------------------

Katolis Castle. Library.

"In hindsight, it turned out that dive-bombing was the most effective method."

"So there was a chance that we would've won that day?" that was what she thought after listening to his tale.

Vaeril snorted, "Not a chance, we are lucky to be alive but anything else is pure delusion,"

"What do you mean?"

"They couldn't risk undermining their planned invasions of Duren, Rustreau, Eshijan, and Vosnuavania by sending too large a force to attack insignificant insects like us."

"But..." she found this difficult to process _"this makes no sense, they went through the trouble of invading Xadia just to invade someone else"_

He sighed, "I'm sure Callum told about how effective dark magic is when using material harvested from Xadia." He could easily imagine what was going on in her head. "Do you remember the incident with Queen Sarai's death and the prince being kidnapped ?"

She nodded to his question remembering what Callum had said during their journey.

"They pulled back their forces from Xadia to prevent the risk of Katolis becoming militarily involved. I thought about exploiting this to gather information but ended up getting captured." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle after thinking back on it, "Oddly enough they didn't coin us immediately and wanted us brought to the capital, the sights were truly breathtaking."

"and that's how you met Callum?" she was starting to get a picture of what happened.

"Yes, we entered what we thought was an arch mage's mansion hoping to find a spell to cross the veil but we found Callum instead, we took him and escaped though two of my men got caught,"

\--------------  
[FLASH BACK RIPPLES VFX]

Vaeril and the others were hiding in the woods just outside the estate.

"That was close, why is this kid so important to them?" Janai looked at the boy tied up nearby.

"So you are elves?" the boy he titled his head, he recalled the depictions he saw in the books but the ones before him looked very human if he ignored the skin color and horns

She nodded to his question, she assumed he must be 10 or 11 years old.

"He is important enough that they are threatening to kill our friends if we don't give him back." Vaeril was looking with his spyglasses at the two startouched elves who were being tied to polls with wood piled at their feet. "Whats your name?"

"Callum"

"So kid whats your story?"

"political hostage slash bargaining chip," the boy said dryly as if he didn't care at this point.

"Why?"

"My step-dad is the king of Katolis."

"that does explain a few things.... cut him loose," Vaeril knew there was no point in keeping him tied up if he wasn't friendly to this nation.

"So you think your dad would be willing to help us get back to Xadia if we brought you back?" Janai asked as she untied him.

"only if he knows a mage to cross the veil," he maintained his nonchalant attitude. 

They understood that as far as this boy was concerned, all that happened was that his captors had changed.

"At the very least we can ask for asylum, it's likely only this nation knows how to cross over," Vaeril began pacing, "If only they could break the rope on their own then it would be easier."

"Is the rope made of hemp?" Callum asked with mild interest.

"Does it matter what it was made from?" Janai looked puzzled at the boy's question

"It is... do you know of a way to cut them both at once?" Vaeril assumed the boy knew of a place where they could easily find weapons

"I just need salt or baking soda, water, two glass cups, a paper towel, two pencils, long copper wire and lightning magic." he counted off his fingers as he listed what he needed.

Vaeril's eyes narrowed "How would that..... never mind, will this spell help us?" He decided to trust the boy considering all the absurd things he'd seen so far.

"spell?" Callum was now confused,

"You need those things to make a dark magic potion or spell right?" Janai interjected

"No, I'm not a mage and this is not magic, its science" Callum seemed somewhat upbeat.  


"We can discuss that latter," Vaeril turned to the other elves "Tanyth you will provide lightning, Meira head to town and get these things."

"I'll see what I can find" Meira cast an illusion to appear human before heading off.

A few hours later Meira had returned, "Salt, no baking soda. These things are pretty cheap, you sure they'll be useful."

"Of course it will" Callum was grinning at the prospects of making this,

"Ok can you remove the wood from these pencils leaving only the graphite?" He gave the pencils to Ettrian who complied as wood was easy to manipulate using earth magic while Callum went to work on the rest. He mixed salt and water then poured it into a cup while filling the other with regular water. The paper towel was used as a salt bridge connecting the two cups. He wrapped the wire around the graphite then dipped them into each cup. Though his explanations went over their heads.

"you sure you aren't making a potion?" Ettrian asked

"It is a potion, its just not magic," Callum now gave the copper wires to Tanyth, "Ok now zap it... by the way don't put your head near the cups, the gas will kill you if you're lucky", his grin was now starting to worry the elves. 

Soon they saw that both graphite pieces were making bubbles. There was also a faint odor in the air.

"What is this?" Vaeril was now very curious,

"The electricity is separating the salt water into hydrogen, chlorine gas and sodium, so now what we have in the cup of regular water is Sodium Hydroxide," Callum was happily explaining with an evil smirk on his face though none of them understood much of it.

"what does this.. sodyum hydraksyt do?" Vaeril wanted to know how it would help.

"It is very dangerous stuff, it will slowly melt the rope but don't let it touch your skin." Callum maintained his nonchalant attitude.

"Do all human children know how to make dangerous stuff!?" Tanyth hoped not. 

"Nah, my grandmother works with this kind of stuff and she teaches me." his eyes were filled with nostalgia.

Janai looked at him with concern "I'm not sure that teaching this to children is a good idea." Everyone else just nodded.

A few hours later, Meira took the cup and turned invisible, and went to pour it on the rope. 

[FLASHBACK ENDING RIPPLE VFX]

\----------------------------------

"So did it work?" Rayla wasn't sure if she should think of an 11-year-old Callum as adorable or just plain terrifying. 

"It worked quite well, after escaping we spent some time learning his people's science and human civilization before doing anything else, it proved quite useful."

"You sure he was 11? he doesn't sound like the guy I've been with"

"He's mellowed out now that he has other responsibilities to deal with. I trust your curiosity has been satisfied?"

"It has, thank you for your time," Rayla left to do some thinking while Vaeril returned to his book.

\--------------------------------

Rayla was lying in bed thinking back on what Vaeril told her, Until now all she knew was what she was told in school. She heard a knock at the door

"It's Callum, dinner's ready ya big glutton, you comin or not?"

She opened to door to see him "Oh, delicious dinner, where forth art thou my delicious dinner." 

"Right this way." He gestured down the hallway.

"So whats on the menu tonight?" she started fantasizing about what she could find waiting for her.

"It changes every day. The chefs try to keep everyone guessing." Somehow he felt like he could already see the fantasies she was having about dinner

"Sweet!" he pumped her fists into the air in triumph. "... by the way after dinner can we talk, just the two of us?" she began to fidget

"Sure, I got nothing else to do tonight"

Soon they arrived at the dining hall, Rayla saw a massive buffet lined up on each side filled with all kinds of food. she followed Callum and began filling her plate.

"Just how many stomachs do you have?" Callum was overwhelmed at the sight of her plate, 

"three and counting" she happily kept adding to the growing pile of food.

"You could just come back for seconds" He kept taking only stuff he liked and wondered if her stomach would be able to survive dinner.

"Oh I intend to do just that,"

"Not remotely what I meant" He wondered if she was serious and thought _"She's definitely serious and I might have to double the food budget at this rate."_

They sat at one of the tables closest to the buffet and began to eat,

"ooh whats this?" Rayla took a small lobster looking thing covered in shredded leaves, its meat was pure white with the golden gravy sticking to it.

Callum's jaw fell open, "It's shrimp, a type of crustacean... and you mean you took food without even knowing what it was?" 

"I see food, I eat it," she said proudly as she ate at a furious pace.

"Now that I can believe," this process continued with Rayla asking Callum whenever she found a food she didn't recognize.

\------------------------

An hour later in the castle tower overlooking the entire island. 

"Alright now what's so important that you want to ask me? a pay raise? moving your room closer to the dining hall? a change to the menu? adding moonberriers to your food? all of the above?" He guessed it had to be one of these.

she hesitated before speaking, "Whats a thermonuclear weapon?"

He didn't expect that and realized there was no way she would ask that on her own, ". . . . Vaeril?" 

She nodded, understanding that it wasn't a question. "I figured it would be some kind of state secret so that's why I wanted to ask when it was just the two of us."

"If it was a state secret then there is no way he'd tell you."

"So what is it?" 

"Do you really want to know?"

She nodded, "How bad can it be?"

He took a deep breath, "It was many decades ago, back then the scale of our cities and industries required more energy than we could hope produce long term. My adoptive grandfather, the previous king of Katolis knew that if this wasn't solved then it could lead to an all out war between humanity. He hoped to foster peaceful coexistence and invited the other human kingdoms to collaborate on a project."

He turned to look at the stars, though he wasn't looking at anything in particular. 

"The Dukedom, Evenere, and Del Bar were the only nations who answered his calls. After years of work, they created a nuclear reactor that used uranium as its fuel. It produced a phenomenal amount of power."

"It avoided war right?"

"Yes, but they all realized that they had now brought humanity to the precipice of annihilation. An emergency conference of all nations was called upon, none were permitted to be absent. They all were to study this new technology and decide what to do."

He paused, almost as if to collect his thoughts.

"They created a single device calling it the _Trigger_ , they placed it on a small 2 kilometer wide island located in the far northwest and raised it on a platform 50 meters high before the entire island was evacuated. . . ." He paused to take a few breaths ". . . At 2:30 in the afternoon it was activated and the atomic age began."

"The atomic age? Wha-What happened?...." Her words were caught on her throat as she saw his expression and feared what he would say next.

"Have you seen the destruction caused by any large human made explosives?" He asked without looking at her,

"Yes, they were big enough to blow up a big house.. why?"

"This explosion had a radius of 600 meters, the island was gone, it could be seen and felt several kilometers away." 

Her eyes widened with shock. 

"What happens afterward is what we call the 'fallout' where radioactive dust and ash begins to fall over a large area. The area itself will need extensive clean up to be habitable, any living thing that's exposed to it will suffer from health problems or die depending on their exposure."

"So thats what a thermonuclear wea."

"No, that is an atomic weapon. . . A thermonuclear device is far more powerful. A single one can create an explosion anywhere from 3 to 42 kilometers wide. All the humans nations were horrified by the results and signed a treaty renouncing their right to use them unless it was used against them."

"thats so horrible" She looked at the capital city in the distance, illuminated like jewels in the night, thinking how all those people simply enjoying their lives would be wiped out in an instant without even being able to fight back and the land would be left poisoned for a long time, knowing that her home was in the exact same peril. She understood why Vaeril felt they Xadia had no hope of victory and that Xadia was merely reaping what it had sown without any regard as to how he might be perceived. She remembered how back in school she and everyone else were told that they would win no matter what, and it would be be a disgrace to the memory of those to have died if they gave up, _it was all a lie, we were just deluding ourselves,_

"Are you alright?" Callum noticed tears forming in her eyes, 

"I'll be..alright" She tried to hold back her tears as her legs gave way. She realized that Xadia now lived or died at the whims of the other side and none of them even realize it. "I just need to.." her voice became strained as she tried wiping away her tears.

"It's alright, you don't need to hold it in." Callum gently embraced her, .

She began to cry profusely into his chest, tears streamed down her face "I thought... I thought if we just fought harder then we'd have won somehow... Now it was worthless to even try... we fought for nothing, my friends, my parents, everyone all died for nothing.... If we gave up sooner then they wouldn't have died." 

He gently rubbed the back of her head, telling her it would be alright. He regretted that he couldn't tell her about Lain and Tiadrin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was first creating the outline for this fanfic, I found an anime called Dr.Stone while looking for chemicals to use in this story.  
> https://youtu.be/p1WA6K4ILiE?t=73
> 
> In my initial outline, Callum only gained his magic halfway through the story but because of how I made dark magic it had almost no impact on the story so I moved it to before the story happens. I figured in a world where magic is basically science he'd be more fascinated by the kind we're used to.
> 
> \---------------------  
> CHEMISTRY:
> 
> 2NaCl(aq) + 2H2O(l) => H2(g) + Cl2(g) + 2NaOH(aq)
> 
> (aq) = dissolved in water  
> (l) = liquid  
> (g) = gas
> 
> H = Hydrogen  
> Cl = Chlorine  
> NaOH = Sodium hydroxide  
> NaCl = Sodium Chlorite  
> H2O = water
> 
> in case you are curious about the setup  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-d4dIXQN78
> 
> chlorine gas is denser than air so it will settle in low lying areas, so be like Ob-wan and stay in the high ground
> 
> If the two graphite are in the same cup then you get sodium hypochlorite (BLEACH) 
> 
> Baking soda i.e Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO₃ ) has no chlorine in it so its safer than table salt.
> 
> during my summer vacation middle school I tried this experiment using a paper towel as a salt bridge and using the graphite in pencil with salt.... it works
> 
> \---------------
> 
> Gold is chemically very boring i.e its inert which is why it doesn't rust or break down like other metals.
> 
> \---------------
> 
> Inside a nuclear reactor, nuclear reaction is used to heat water which is turned to steam to spin a turbine connected to a generator. A reactor is basically a glorified kettle connected to a fan.
> 
> The main benefit of magic is that nuclear waste can be recycled an infinite number of times, so they essentially have UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg14jNbBb-8
> 
> Also if you find yourself covered in nuclear dust, then take off your cloths and take a shower, this will get rid of most of the dust, though you should see a specialized doctor.
> 
> here's two fallout game science videos.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaOWf5ClN5I  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBeq_keMhmc  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJSWodlmyo
> 
> The the nuclear technology and weapons treaty covers everything.
> 
> basically  
> 1.reactors have to be built at minimum X distance away from any settlements.  
> 2\. they can't be targeted by weapons.  
> 3.they can't built additional reactors if they don't have enough mages to turn the nuclear waste back into usable materials  
> 4\. any nuclear weapons tests must be done after notifying other nations
> 
> etc etc etc etc
> 
> PS: The nukes have magic built into it to make sure the fallout spreads correctly in the most horrible way imaginable muahahahahaha!
> 
> \-------------
> 
> Grade-A Etherium can convert energy into primal energy, basically plug it into a socket in your house and it will start turning electricity into primal energy.  
> Grade-B is basically a glorified power bank, it can store a phenomenal amount but can only be charged by and be used to charge other types of etherium  
> Grade-C, this is basically the reverse of grade A, it can be used to turn primal energy into non-primal energy.  
> Grade-D, it absorbs ambient energy but it had pretty poor storage so it needs a Grade-B to hold it all  
> Grade-E, is the type used for spells, it can't be used for anything else. it has decent storage.
> 
> Ranking like A1, A2, A3 etc refers to its capabilities, basically the higher the number the better it is. Currently 22 is the highest rank.
> 
> Fossil fuels do exist, its just that they are less efficient, basically an internal combustion engine can only use 20-35% of the energy produced by burning its fuel, the rest of gone to waste.


	14. Tricks for Treats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to regular stuff
> 
> The most renowned candy thief in all of Katolis plans his more daring act yet.
> 
> Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc&list=PLZKvBwXrQpPs9ilBC4rMc7S4y2dmwdHRp&index=20
> 
> {{...0:00...}} when the music starts  
> {{...1:26...}} time stamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any quotes in italics is a thought bubble  
> \------------------

"You're late" Callum pretended to be disappointed, he was dressed in uniform for a change instead of being dressed casually, he carried something wrapped in paper,

Rayla rolled her eyes, "Sorry, took a while to get this on properly." she gestured to her perfectly pressed uniform, "did you have to base it off your casual cloths?"

"Actually, his casuals are based off his uniform," Ezran interjected while eating a jelly tart. Zym and Bait were next to him,

"Hey Callum about last night" she felt her face warm remembering how embarrassing that was, 

"Never happened" 

"thanks" she breathed a sigh of relief, the last thing she wanted was for someone else to know about it, "So whatcha have in mind for today?"

"Right now we're wai.. ah here they are," Callum noticed a group heading towards them in the distance,

She turned to where he was looking, "What the?!" she saw two girls who looked of similar age to Ezran, and one of them was riding a giant wolf and a red-headed boy about Callum's age.

"Rayla meet Aanya, Ellis, Eva, and Preston," Ezran introduced them all while munching on more jelly tarts.

"Pleased to meet you all," Rayla decided to bow as she was sure they'd have to be important to be inside the castle. As soon as she raised her head she found herself face to face with the gigantic wolf, she could feel Eva's breath on her face, a silent moment passed before the wolf immediately started licking her nonstop. "Stop it, that tickles," she patted the wolf in return,

"Eva really likes you," Ellis giggled,

"Sorry we're late" Claudia arrived followed by Soren, she took Rayla's hand and began shaking it wildly, "Ooooh, you must be Rayla, I'm Claudia, welcome to Katolis, how old are you, where are you from? can I use you for an experiment?"

"17, the Silvergrove and whaaaa? No NO and NO!" 

"Sorry about Clauds, she's easily excited... I'm Soren, Crown guard extraordinaire at your service," He did a practiced yet over-exaggerated bow,

"Ahem... now I believe its time to get down to business," Ezran began to walk back and forth like he was doing a military briefing, "Callum, the toys."

Callum rolled his eyes before he unwrapped the paper and revealed two pairs of arm guards and gave them to Ezran and Rayla. He then gave some small balls to Ezran and Preston,

"OOOOOH What do these do?," Ezran happily put them on,

"Calm down first, yours can be used to project an illusion of you some distance away, Rayla's can be used to easily enter shadow form,

"Come again?" Rayla thought she misheard him, she could only do that during a full moon,

"You can use it to enter shadow form, a human could only maintain partial invisibility," He then turned to Preston, "in case you get caught, these produce a bright flash once primed and thrown,"

Preston took it with a devilish grin, "Oh I do hope I get to use these,"

"What are you guys planning to do" Rayla had no idea where this was going and thought _'What kind of mess did I get myself into this time,'_

Ezran grinned at her, "We are going to raid the bakery,"

"Won't we get into trouble for this?"

"Not really, Callum's already ordered the food yesterday and paid for it then, we just take em before the store opens," Ellis explained as she patted Eva,

"So why do it at all?" Rayla found this confusing, if Callum ordered the food made then why raid the place,

"Because Barius only does deliveries during the after noon, they'll arrive around 3:00 PM and all those delicious treats would lose 19.4% of their deliciousness by then from getting cold," Ezran stated with a grim expression on his face,

"Deliciousness!" Rayla was pumped after hearing that, "We must rescue them as soon as possible!,"

Aanya's face scrunched up and whispered, "I see you found another Ezran,"

"If she's like Ezran then you share the same headache as us," Ellis added

"Thanks, I think," Callum rubbed the back of his neck hearing her say that, "Except her appetite isn't limited to just sweets," Callum whispered back,

Preston gave a sideways glance towards Ezran who was busy explaining things to Rayla, "I feel bad about your food budget Cal"

"I wish that was my only problem," Callum shrugged,

\---------------------------------------------  
{{...0:00...}}

10:25 AM: Elm' Street, Governmental district, 

Smoke could be seen rising from the chimney at Barius's bakery, the scent of baked bread and pastries, wafted through the air bringing a drool to anyone who smelled it. In all the buildings nearby, people were standing at the closest windows making wagers on whether the culprit would escape or not wondering if any of them will make a small fortune off their wagers. They quickly saw looking at the Crown Prince walking on the opposite side of the road, all of them were wondering what would happen today. The area was filled with so much anticipation that one could feel it on their skin, Ezran enjoy this moment before his lip moved upwards forming a grin.

Barius and his staff were all busy setting the tables, chairs, and cabinets ready before opening the bakery, leaving the kitchen completely unguarded.

Suddenly everyone was blinded by a bright flash,

"GAAAH! PRINCE EZRAN!!!!!" Barius knew it had to be him, it could only be him, slowly his vision began to return.

{{...1:26...}}

A whistle was heard from outside the store and they all looked and saw the young prince standing on the opposite side of the road holding a tray of jelly tarts while blowing raspberries at them then started to waltz using the pastry filled tray as his partner. Barius grabbed a large cake from one of the counters and threw it at the prince, but the cake barely made it halfway across the street. The prince looked up from the ruined cake and began to eat several jelly tarts in clear view of the baker to goad him.

Barius rushed out of the bakery running with all his might to catch the arrogant prince who was just standing there sticking his tongue out to mock him. _yes, just keep standing still a bit longer,"_

Barius leaped at the prince and as his hands were about to connect with the boy, but his hands went right through him and Barius slammed headfirst into a lamp post. The sound of the collision was like a large bell and could be heard by everyone nearby who cringed thinking how painful that must've been, some looked away on pure reflex.

Inside the kitchen, the stones on the wall began to move, Rayla fully invisible came out first and went to the adjacent kitchens to search for her target while the other four stayed to find their targets. Bait and Zym were guarding their escape route.

Rayla returned holding two trays one held Jelly tarts while the other had caked. "The target has been secured,"

"Ours is secured as well, lets head back and see what callum managed to record for us," Aanya looked at the food in front of her, anticipating how tasty they'd be. She, Soren, Claudia, and Preston also held trays filled with different food Rayla hadn't seen food like this.  
"Knowing him, he's probably managed to find a good angle," Preston chuckled as he wondered how things were going outside.

They all made their escape as quietly as possible hoping no one heard them as the opening in the wall began to close.

In the front of the bakery, his staff was laughing as none of them expected this and knew that the kitchens were probably being raided right now but saw no reason to follow up on that train of thought. They saw Barius was rubbing his head looking disorientated, they all heard the whistle again and looked to find the prince standing elsewhere. Barius without a second thought began to charge at the prince, they all expected a repeat of Barius slamming into another lamp post or wall.

Unexpectedly they saw a hooded child riding a large wolf heading towards the prince from another street, she grabbed the prince helping him on and they rode away towards the castle. 

Ezran turned to look at a dumbfounded Barius and began to sing with a goofy grin all over his face,  
_"Riding through the streets,  
In a gigantic wolf,  
With a tray of treats!,  
laughing all the waaaay-hehe!"_

Everyone looked on with their jaws open, unable to process this, this was the most absurd stunt they'd seen so far, most of them began to ask if anyone won the betting pools.

\------------------

Once Ezran and his accomplices were close to the castle, he tapped his hand and the tray vanished, 

"Think they managed to get away?" Ellis asked, Eva barked happily.

"Only one way to find out... EVA, TO THE GAME ROOM!"

As they neared the gate, the guards all offered them a salute, they all had a wry grin on their faces. The two children saluted back to them as they rode on at full speed.

\---------------------

11:35 - Katolis castle, the Game Room aka the personal fiefdom of Ezran and Callum.

The room was huge, filled with several sofa's, a large screen, a massive fridge, a fireplace, board games, and anything else the boys might've added over the years.

The stones began to move and as Rayla and her band of merry thieves marched in holding trays filled with delicious baked goods. They were greeted with the excited cheering of Ezran and Ellis while Callum was clapping.

"Congrats, after that stunt you are now part of our exclusive little group," Preston said as he was getting some bottles from the fridge,

"Thanks... but I'm not nobility," Rayla

"Neither is Claudia, Ellis or me for that matter. This is your welcoming party, so enjoy it," Soren explained

"Save it for later, its time for the most important part... Callum, the recording!," Ezran interjected as he wanted to start the main event.

"Gotcha oh lord of sweets" Callum went over to a large black mirror attached to the wall and placed something into it, "Grab a seat, its show time"

"What is that thing?" Rayla asked

"Basically, I place this recording sphere in this slot and this large screen shows whatever is recorded on it." he then pressed a button and they all sat at whatever couch was closer to them.

"Aren't tele's supposed to be smaller?" Rayla asked, she remembered the ones she'd seen when she arrived but couldn't recall any this big

"The regular ones, yep... this big screen costs a little over two hundred gold give or take a few dozen" Preston said 

Rayla kept going over that absurd number in her head, she realized these rich people have too much money than they know what to do with,

Soon the screen began to lighten up and played its contents, they were all laughing hard as they kept replaying the video. Preston and Claudia were on the floor while Soren was holding his stomach in pain struggling to stop. Rayla was having the time of her life, she couldn't recall the last time she laughed so much.

After taking some time to recover they began to divide the loot, Rayla was wonder what all these were as she only recognized jelly tarts, cakes, and the sandwiches.. the rest were new to her.

"So what exactly are these? I recognize thee of em but..."

"This is one is called Coxinha, basically its diced meat and other stuff covered in dough then deep-fried in oil." Preston held up the food for her to see, "This is a local speciality back in Del Bar, my sister and I would eat a lot of them,"

She took a bite out of one and could taste the gravy-soaked chicken, it was a bit spicy and the crunch of onions and cabbage, she didn't know what the seasoning was.

"So what about these?" she held up two triangular-shaped pastry,

"Oh, that's called a samosa, its originally from Neolandia, it's made using filling either meat or vegetable.. usually the latter mixed with lots of spices, wrapped in a small flatbread then fried till its crispy, the other one is called a puff.. basically the same thing but with a lot more dough and filling. It's from Duren," Callum explained,

"The puff is basically a chubby cousin of the samosa," Aanya added then pointed to the other items, "This one is called an egg boat, and this is an alfredo roll,"

Rayla wiped away her drool as she listened about the deliciousness in front of her, "I didn't realize bread was so versatile"

Preston narrowed his eyes "You mean you don't have stuff like this in Xadia?"

"Nothing that looks like this?" she confessed in disappointment, 

"It seems we'd make a killing if we opened our own bakery there," He began going over the numbers and wondered if it would be a good venture,

"Yeah, you're gonna have to put your elaborate scheme on ice until someone finds a way to cross that glowing wall," Callum waved the idea away causing Preston to hang his head as his plans began to crumble to dust.

Claudia came with a box with an image over it, "Let's try this one..... _Night of the Walking Dead!_ "

"Night of the what now?" Rayla wondered what they were planning,

"It's a horror film, we often play movies while enjoying the spoils of our victory," Aanya said,

They finished divvying up the food then went to the sofa and ate as they watched their movie. 

After the movie was over, the young ones along with Bait, Zym, and Eva were all asleep on the couches while the teens decided to move elsewhere and gotten themselves another bottle of sodas. Soren and Claudia had already left.

"Man I never thought banditry would be so lucrative," Rayla downed her soda quickly before letting out a loud burp,

"damn, you have no inhibitions girl," Preston mused

"You have no idea," Callum added,

"So Preston how'd you get roped into this?"

"I was visiting the bakery a few years ago hoping to do a collab with Barius and found myself in the middle of a raid, a most fortuitous and profitable meeting I would say,."

By 2:45 PM the three of them had left to do their own thing, Rayla went to get her armor, Callum went to his meeting and Preston headed to the docks, while the rest were still sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soda is from Dr.stone anime:  
> https://youtu.be/BZTPRIY8ycU?t=321
> 
> How to make this soda:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdMdu7CTxhc
> 
> yes the rest of the food exists in our world
> 
> Coxinha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYuuGjVLIBQ  
> puff pastry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puff_pastry  
> samosa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosa  
> egg boat: https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/baked-egg-boats/  
> Alfredo rolls: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a48902/chicken-alfredo-roll-ups-recipe/
> 
> \----------------------
> 
> idea for Ezran's singing escape  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veju4PxhuGc
> 
> I had an version of this for my original sci-fi story though it wasn't Ezran doing the singing then
> 
> \----------------------
> 
> Elves actually eat around 1.5x as much food as humans, they are far stronger and more durable than humans but that comes with the cost of higher energy intake. 
> 
> several foods grown in Xadia like moonberries contain far more nutrition than regular food. Since these are in short supply on the human side all the elves including Rayla have to consume more food, though Rayla won't stop until her stomach is stuffed. 
> 
> replace the PB&J in your sandwich with moonberry jam and you'll be good even if you skip lunch, 
> 
> I already have a few ideas for other xadian veggies and fruits, one day I'll get to adding them,
> 
> \-------------------
> 
> The island is connected to the mainland via a natural land bridge, the secret tunnels go right through it and connect to many of the buildings in the governmental district hence why only govt stuff is allowed in that district and why no one is allowed to change the buildings without the king's approval. Barius and a few restaurants do operated on the edge catering to the many busy govt employees.
> 
> Callum orders a lot of snacks for Ezran, they can only do raids this big when all of them are together which isn't often as Callum and Preston have to travel around due to their positions. Most of the time its Ezran doing it on his own and he has gotten caught a few times. The entire area makes wagers on how this goes... Ezran accidentally created a gambling industry in the govt district :P  
> The bets get pretty big when Callum comes back because thats when things get really entertaining.
> 
> Barius tries to stop these raids because he will not stand for any pf his products leaving his store before he opens for the day. Ezran will not stand for delicious food not being in his belly the moment it leaves the oven.


	15. Operation Jester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla gets her equipment and begins training tomorrow
> 
> Callum has a meeting to deal with
> 
> The Dukedom is being the dukedom

Katolis Castle, Armory.

"Hey Saphielle, is my armor ready yet?" Rayla arrived at the armory and found Janai taking to Saphielle.

"Hey Rayla, come on in" 

"Ah, Rayla I take it the raid with my nephews was a success," she giggled 

"We came, we raided, we escaped," Rayla replied as she was lead to a back room where she was shown her equipment. 

"Before we start I got to ask you something your highness," Saphielle's eyes were sparkling, 

"What is it?" Rayla felt worried for some reason

"How'd it go? I mean spending a night with a prince?"

"eh..............WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Rayla felt her face heating up and covered it with her hands,

"C'mon a lot of us saw you leaving the dining hall with him yesterday." Saphielle put her hands on her hips and leaned towards Rayla trying to peek at her face,

"Wait what? I have a niece now?" Janai didn't expect this at all, it was faster than she had anticipated

"We were just talking and I went back to my room!" she now realized going together was bound to cause some misunderstanding.

"With my nephew?" Janai asked with a bright smile on her face,

"We went our separate ways!" Rayla was reaching her limit, _I'm gonna kill these two!!!_

"Really? nothing scandalous happened?" Saphielle looked puzzled "And here I was expecting to hear that Katolis would get an elven princess,"

Janai looked disappointed and slumped her shoulders _I might have to get involved at this rate._

Saphielle sighed "hmmmm lets get you combat ready then," gesturing towards the equipment next to them,

Rayla started equipping each armor piece and turned out wasn't as easy as she thought it would be, she found the whole set which should be very heavy to be weightless.

"First the armor plates are made of two separate plates with a bullet-resistant fabric in between, and some padding at the back" Saphielle tapped the plates as she explained.

"Why two plates?"

"The idea is that if a shot managed to punch through the first plate which should lower its power so the fabric will try to catch it and second plate can more easily stop it."

"Is it that good?"

"Oh yes, regular rifle ammo wouldn't even dent it. This piece of armor is as close to bullet-proof as humanity could get, well as long as no one busts out an AMR. The only problem is that it's a bloody nightmare to even make a single one, it took me a whole month to make one of the pieces your wearing."

"so its indestructible?" Rayla didn't understand what a AMR was but the armor sounded like something from a fantasy.

"There is so such thing," Janai explained "you could just use bombs, poison, cannons, or really anything with high enough caliber,"

"Now for your standard-issue weapon," She took out a combat knife and a rifle "this comes with a bayonet, 30 round mag, effective firing range 600 meters, with 1.1 kilometer max range, and an under-barrel grenade launcher....."

"Saphielle, she barely understands the technical jargon," Janai sighed "So what kind of weapons did you use back in Xadia?"

"Butterfly knives," Ryla said

"get me a Balisong" Janai ordered as she went to set up a target,

Saphielle quickly brought one and gave it to Janai who flipped it to a blade and pointed it towards the target, 

Rayla noticed something else at the handguard and wondered if Janai was going to throw it. "Whaaa!"  
The blade fired glowing bolts at the target leaving scorch marks. 

"It's only good for 80-90 meters though, a millimeter further and it's useless, you can ask Sephielle to adjust the gun portion," Janai handed it to Rayla "Come with me, I'll explain how it works, Oh and starting tomorrow your training starts to make sure to show up at the practice field for drills,"

\----------------

Frenoria, Erdus Dukedom

"Open up you idiot!, we have a serious problem to deal with!." Richard was banging the door to the archduke's office. 

Ernest rushed over and opened the door to let his friend in, he looked around before quietly closing the door, "alright whats going on?"

Richard just shoved a file into Ernest's face as they both took a seat before Richard explain, "The morons are planning something big,"

"Of course they are, their moron, its what they do," Ernest said as he began reading the documents titled 'Operation Jestor', he wondered what this was all about, with each page he read his expression became grimmer, "this is unbelievable, how'd you find out about this?"

"I received a communication from Prince Callum," Was all Richard said

Ernest's jaw was hanging open after hearing that, "How'd you..."

"Word of advice, the shadows operate under different rules," Richard's tone made it clear he wasn't going to answer, "He managed to gather enough information on its general outline from whatever allies the morons have in Katolis but that's it, "

"Damn, how could we let this happen," Ernest slammed his fist into the desk so hard the wood splintered, "I should've pushed through for a treaty years ago, we could've avoided all this needless bloodshed!"

"Based on the fact that they're even telling us this means Katolis also seeks coexistence and not war," Richard knew the prince had his men infiltrate the dukedom but he could never find out if they wanted peace or war, now he had his answer.

"You're right we need to do everything on our end and hope Katolis pulls out a win then we can easily pursue an alliance with them and the warhawks will lose whatever political power they have as a result," Ernest knew he couldn't intervene directly if he handled this poorly then it would make things worse. "Do you know how their doing all this?"

Richard shook his head, "They are using a method that's foreign to us, so my men can't do anything until they first find out what it even is." He spent countless sleepless nights going through the archives and intelligence reports looking for any hint as to how Vanderbilt was doing this without leaving a trace, he could find nothing no matter where he looked and what's more baffling was that Vanderbilt was never this capable.

"Damn imperialists, can't they see we'll go the same route as the empire if we try to rebuild it," Ernest couldn't understand why they were even trying.

"Their drunk on delusions on what was 800 years ago and not on the problems of making it work," Richard added, "I'm gonna need several bottles to sleep this through,"

"I have plenty in my cellar so help yourself to it," 

They spent the remaining hour coming up with an outline to do what they could without appearing to know what was going on.

\--------------------  
Katolis Castle, Conference Room

Outside the room were over a dozen guards with security quadrupled everywhere as this particular area was made off-limits. Inside the room was a large table with a sealed package placed in front of each person.

Those present are the King himself, Hige Mage Viren, High Cleric Opeli, Grand General Amaya and her aide de camp Lt Gren, Grand Air Marshal Albert Grant, Grand Admiral Dylan Foster, the General staff, the current Lord Margrave Callum and sitting next to him was one of his his retainers. Martin Fletcher the Director of Intelligence.

King Harrow began the meeting and gestured for Callum to start.

"First, I'd like to thank everyone for being able to come on such short notice. You may now open the sealed package in front of you all."

They all turned the package around and saw that it had C-13 printed on one side, short for Classified Level 13. Outside of state-level secrets, it's rare for anything to be given that designation. Inside was a report that contained several hundred pages.

Outside of Callum, Vaeril, and a few others, no one even knew what was in it, even King Harrow and High cleric Opeli were given only the barest of details till now. The index contained only a few items, but one particular caught their attention.

It was titled _'Current Weapons Development and Production with the Dukedom.'_. They all quickly turned to its page and saw details on several projects undertaken by the Dukedom.

"Aircraft?" the Air Marshal asked, "Was there a spy?"

Callum gestured to Martin, who began to summarize the contents

"There is no leak of any kind as simply copying our designs would've been more effective, the dukedom merely arrived at this design on their own. The top speeds, and flight ceiling are slightly below ours but with a far lower production cost. However, the engines are less powerful, so they placed armor only in key section to reduce weight and added variable-lift plates to compensate though the maintenance cost is higher as a result. Additionally they are also building a variant that runs on oil likely intending to sell the designs to Neolandia and Evenere despite its lower operational range." 

They all went through it page by page detailing everything from singled engine monoplanes to biplanes along with twin-engine bombers and transport craft along with their armaments.

"Are there no four-engine crafts?" One of the General Staff asked,

"None, they seem to be prioritizing everything based on cost, and they think their the only ones building them hence these are their designs. they currently have 7,400 single engined aircrafts and 2,100 twin engined crafts stored, they have only begun recruiting pilots and it's done in secret so currently they can field less 2% of them right now."

"So it's to our advantage right now," The Air Marshal began to look at the specifications for each craft and noticed that they were less maneuverable which could easily be exploited. The biplanes had a total of 16 High-Velocity rockets on their wings and one machine gun on its front making it clear it was intended to fight airships as opposed to the monoplanes which had 1 light machine gun in the front with 2 heavy machine guns on its wings which made it suitable for fighting flight mages and could be configured to carry either eight rockets or 3 bombs. Though both designs did contain parchment sections which presented a problem as this report had no details on the spells used. The twin-engine bomber's only armament was their payloads with no defenses meaning they needed to be escorted by mages or other aircraft.

General Amaya began to sign to Viren as Gren interpreted for everyone,  
"Whats the status of the proximity fuses?"

"Production of the shells is running smoothly and stockpiles are sufficient, I've run the numbers through the General Staff," Viren said as the general staff confirmed it,

One of the General staff asked, "I'd like to know the current status of the Vigil Class Carriers along with the two new classes of airships."

"All 6 Carriers are sea worthy and merely await their aircraft complements to be delivered," Viren said, 

"What about the airships?," Harrow asked,

"The reactors have been fully stabilized and all airships are currently undergoing their final trials and will be ready within 4 days."

"Good make sure their existence is kept a secret."

"Speaking of which, I see no details on any carriers?" The Grand Admiral spoke up

"As of right now they've converted 8 large battleships into carriers and are docked in the far north to be hidden but so far we haven't been able to get anything else on them." Callum answered the admiral, 

Callum had waited for the discussions on everything to be over so he could move to the main event, "Now there is one item in this that's not mentioned in index, please turn to page 566, It contains the general outline for Operation: Jester and everything we currently know about it."

They all did so and the room was enveloped by silence as they read the contents, they all turned to look at Callum disbelievingly. Callum merely nodded to confirm the contents were genuine and began to speak, "Phase One will begin 3 weeks before Founding Day, Phase Two will begin almost on the date itself, as for Phase Three I trust I don't need to elaborate."

 _"Damn them, on that date again!"_ General Amaya signed as Gren interpreted 

They all began to go over the document carefully asking Callum for clarifications on even the slightest of matters regarding this report.

"This is probably the worst case scenario, if we don't handle this properly," One of the general staff said,

"The offer of alliance has been sent, all we can do now is wait for the other side to respond," Harrow said,

Everyone knew that there is a big implicit _IF_ even if the King didn't verbalize it.

The meeting continued till it was 9:14 PM, they all left with their priorities set, failure meant certain defeat for Katolis and that wasn't an option for any of them.

\-----------------------

Polmauren, Erdus Dukedom

Lord Vanderbilt had gathered his closest allies to discuss certain matters, everyone except him wore masks. He found it pointless because they all knew who everyone here was but he tolerated it.

"My friends, I have called you here to tell you that Operation Jester will proceed as scheduled."

"Has either the Archduke and Prime Minister caught wind of this yet?" Duchess Kiera asked,

"No, and if they did they can't stop it now," Vanderbilt was confident in that,

"Very well then, what's the status of _that_ " she turned to Duke Collins, 

"they've been placed and merely await a signal, it will work as long as the potions do their job," he replied

"The potions will work, it is our win," Vanderbilt assured them, It took him many years but he finally succeeded in removing the spells placed on the books written by an elven archmage named Aaravos, its contents were truly remarkable and he finally had the means to achieve his goal. He only needs these people to vote for him, "If this is successful can I expect your support for my ascension?"

"As long as you honor the prior commitments to you've made to us then you have our support," One of them said and the other all nodded in agreement,

"Yes I shall share with you the knowledge I have acquired," He then raised a toast "Long Live the empire!" His goal of finally restoring their nation to greatness was finally within his grasp, he knew he couldn't afford any mistakes right now.

"Long Live the Empire!!!" everyone else cheered though only a fourth of them truly sought to recreate the old Erdus Empire, the rest of them all knew that it would be beneficial for them to ensure it does happen even if their reasons were different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The armor set Rayla is given is the highest quality, she and 2999 others in the legion has such armor, the rest have lower quality armor which can withstand a lot more than regular plate armor before they fail.
> 
> regular soldiers have standard armor, no nation can afford to equip an entire army with magic armor as even the cheapest can buy you dozens of regular armor plates
> 
> also bullets aren't really a threat when compared to artillery, bombs, rockets and mines so no one is trying to mass produce any magic armor, even if they did their troops would still be killed by something bigger.
> 
> if you want Rayla to have absolute bullet proof armor then the only way that will happen is if she is transformed into a main battle tank and I have no idea on how to write a tank being able to move through those tiny tunnels to raid a bakery  
> \---------------  
> Aircraft have entered the world, now airships have tiny siblings to fly along side them.... and no jet engines so far.


	16. Boot camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been looking forward to writing this chapter:
> 
> Rayla begins boot camp and complains to Callum about it.

Rayla and the other cadets had finished morning drills and entered a classroom exhausted, they met their instructor for the day, a man named Maxwell Sanders, he'd been explaining about their equipment as their history for an hour before moving to other topics

"Alright, does any of you know why every single settlement has high stone walls like the capital or why people don't travel by roads unless its by day under armed escort?" Instructor Sanders asked

"zombies obviously, right Drill Sergent?" One of the cadets said,

Rayla recalled occasionally seeing zombies shambling around in the distance during her time working to escort merchants around,

"Yes.. and no," The instructor said, "There are multiple types of entities, zombies are just the most common and least threatening kind you can run into."

"Where do they come from Drill Sergent?" Rayla asked

"Good question, they are created when sufficient primal energy is absorbed into the ground itself, as to how they originated we really have no idea." The instructor said, "Feudal lords maintain large numbers of troops primarily to fend them off so the military won't deal with them and potentially weaken the defenses at the border,"

"Is there no way to get rid of them for good, Drill sergent"

"heh, if we knew how to do that we'd have done it by now, at best we've managed to reduce their numbers. However, they do have one benefit, when you kill them they turn back to dirt which acts as a super fertilizer,"

"Drill Sergent is our food is grown using zombie corpses! ," Rayla asked

"Well yes, but actually no, they appear to just be energy thats turned into solid materials that move around with the aim of killing anything thats an elf or human," The instructor explained. Rayla could never look at those zombies the same way after this.

"Why only humans and elves Drill sergent?" a human cadet asked

"We believe they were created as some kind of weapon to increase attrition during the calamity war which is why the animals are the lucky ones here."

"You said there are multiple types besides zombies Drill sergent," An elf asked

"Correct, they are collectively called the neverborn, the forsaken, or plague-bearers. Keep in mind that they all aren't going to turn into dirt, stone-crawlers turn into rock which can be used to make permacrete, the rest sadly don't turn into anything useful besides staying dead. The biggest threat is leaving them alone because if their numbers grow enough then they give rise to the more dangerous kinds,"

He brought out several depictions of a zombie and stone-crawlers and began explaining how to kill them.

Then moved on to the main threats. They were shown a depiction of a four-legged creature, though it looked like it was something bipedal that forced to move on all fours, it had armor made of chitin, three eyes, and finally a thick long tail with the end that looked like a spear,

"This is a ghoul, this is the most deadly kind imaginable. If you try to fight one alone you are dead, dead and dead. They can heal any major injury in mere moments,"

 _"Just like a dragon,"_ Rayla thought

\-------

After lunch, they were back in the practice field with their unusually happy Drill Sargent, Rayla found the smile somewhat reminiscent of Janai which was not a good thing. They remembered how they had to jog 8 kilometers especially after the elven cadet Athtar said that this was easy causing the Sargent to make them run carrying fully loaded assault bags. 

"kehehehehe, I hope you've enjoyed sitting in a classroom, cause your about to do some hellishly grueling marching before doing another 8-kilometer jog."  
The Sargent proceeded to show them how to march, then told them to form up and do it, Rayla often did marches back in the silvergrove for miles during her training, _How hard can this be?_

30 minutes later, _Harder!, much harder!_ Rayla regretted her prior thoughts, she and the others often lost their balance several times already, two sprained their ankles. _I didn't realize marching would be harder and more dangerous than jogging._

She had to look to the right at the guide to maintain position and holding her rifle in a port-arm while trying to keep pace without losing balance, to make matters worse they'd have to march for real during the _Day of Founding_ military parade.

\------------

6:00 PM Katolis castle,

Callum was in his large office drinking coffee while going through some paperwork when the door opened, he saw Rayla shamble in and collapse on the sofa, "I see you survived Day 1 of spartan training,"

"My legs feel like they've turned to stone" she looked like she was inches away from dying, "Even the hot shower wasn't enough to heal my sore muscles,"

"Don't worry too much, you just have to survive for a few months and it will all be over," he smiled at her.

"You're a horrible person and a terrible friend ya big dumb human!" she felt like her soul was floating away from her mouth, "Is this training or punishment?"

"After the first three weeks are over, then the drill sergeants will stop going easy on you and start putting you through the meat grinder,"

"How do they expect us to learn anything like this?!"

"The point isn't to teach you anything," He let out a chuckle, "its to break you down and reforge you into a soldier who can handle this kind of thing, it took me two months to get used to boot camp, the learning and other delicate stuff comes afterwards." 

Rayla was confused, no matter how much she tried she couldn't imagine Callum surviving half of what she just went through, "Just how indestructible are you?"

"Actually, I'm more fragile than glass so make sure to handle me with care."

she rolled her eyes, "Does this marching even help in fighting?"

"Not one bit," he said without hesitation

"HAAA?! then why do it at all?"

"To build discipline, cohesion, and a sense of camaraderie in the military... outside of drills you will only be marching during parades and ceremonial functions,"

"Is that why we have to keep our legs straight?"

"Nah, this style of marching originated in the days of the old Erdus empire, back then guns had pretty poor accuracy and range, so you needed troops to move around in tight formations, not easy to do when you're being shot at by guns and cannons,"

"Empire?"

"Yeah, back then it was a huge empire, Katolis was a part of it before the whole thing collapsed, we inherited many cultural and military traditions from them." 

"So your using things made by your enemy?"

"Yes, Neolandia's armies had problems with their men bunching up due to the unstable desert sand so they incorporated wide arm swings to solve it, Evenere and Estaria have shorter swings, basically each nation made changes to suit their own traditions or situations,"

Rayla got curious and tried marching by swinging her right arm in wide arcs. She found it not all that different though she felt that her arms would join her legs if she kept his up, "I hope this helps me when we fight zombies,"

"You'd better make sure to train properly then, because I'm taking you cadets to fight some after we're done dealing with your landlord and viscount,"

"Where exactly are we going?"

"I had originally planed to take you lot there next week but due to circumstance I'm pushing it to later. We're heading to the cursed caldera, its where the moon nexus is." he was looking intently at a piece of paper he held in one hand.

"Please tell its named after the famous explorer Sir Phineas Cursed," she prayed to the moon it was someplace fluffy.

"Nope, its name comes from the fact that its the biggest infestation sight in the whole continent," he had an almost demonic smile as he used a flight light on his face.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Isn't hat going too far!," She pleaded with a pair of big round puppy dog eyes, "Is there a way for me to not go?" 

"Well you could always not go... but", Callum cocked an eyebrow as he turned off the flashlight and put it away, "would you change your mind for an All-You-Can-Eat deluxe buffet?"

she started imagining beign surrounded by high class buffet rich people would consider normal but then "eh..... what did I just do?" she noticed she was signing a sheet of paper without even realizing it,

Callum took the paper with a bright smile on his face, "thank you for signing the application for going to the Caldera,"

She fell to her knees, "No, no that's not true, thats impossible!" 

"Read the document you just signed, you will know it to be true," he held it up to her to grab,

She took it and began to read it, "NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" She had forgotten who she was dealing with and slowly went back to the sofa to die in peace,

"Don't worry about it too much, if it was really that dangerous then I wouldn't be sending a bunch of cadets there now would I,"

"You could've told me that sooner!"

"If I did then it would take much longer to break you down,"

"What are you? my drill Sargent?!" 

"Technically I'm your liege, but yes my job is also to make sure those under my command are combat ready," he said as he was reading some documents,

"You said its the moon nexus right, I was taught we destroyed it before banishing humanity,"

"You did and we're not going to the ruins," He turned on the flashlight again, "we're going to the dark tunnels underneath it all" 

"Whats there?"

"Think of it like a miniature Xadia,"

"Huh? what does that mean?"

"If I tell you then it would ruin the surprise,"

"Fine but if we ever get to xadia I'm not buying you a moonberry surprise," she puffed her cheek and pouted

"I'm sure I can bribe someone else to buy some for me," he started playing with a pouch,  
She could clearly hear the unique sound of Katolis gold coins in it and guessed there were probably 14 coins in total.

"Come here you! those are my bribes!!!!" She began to chase Callum around the room, she had to admit he was a slippery one as he used magic to escape whenever she got close enough to grab him and the fatigue from boot camp meant she couldn't keep this up for long. She noticed he was near the sofa and thought of a way to get him, she began to chase him in circles around the sofa till it got repetitive and as he was about turn she jumped over the sofa to grab him 

"GOTCHA!" they both fell to the ground with Rayla grabbing his arms pinning him down, "Promise you won't be bribing any of my people and I may let you go,"

"You do realize this is a bit problematic, right? He said as his face was a deep red,

She felt her own face redden as she realized they were in a rather comprising position especially if someone walked in, "yeah if someone walked in..."

"A little late for that,"

they both turned to the door to see Aanya with a mischievous smile while riding Eva with Ellis who whistled in a romantic tune and after seeing them, while Eva looked like she wanted to join in. The three of them proceeded to howl like wolves during a full moon.

"This is...uhhhh" Callum tried to speak but Aanya held a hand up telling them not to speak,

"Don't worry we didn't see a thing," Aanya said as she proceeded to cover her eyes and mouth.

Ellis nodded s she covered Aanya's ears, "We'll leave you two alone."

"Wait! this isn't..." Rayla tried to explain but they had already left and closed the door

Callum and Rayla could hear them talk on the other side of the door,  
<<<<  
Aanya: "Think we can pin Ezran down?"

Ellis: "nah, he's so oblivious he'd think we're playing a game,"

Aanya: "Yeah, you're right,"

Eva: woof!  
<<<<

"I suggest we not wait for someone else walks in," 

"Point taken," she quickly got off him while noticing how red her face was after looking in a mirror, "I didn't know Ezran was such a big player,"

"He isn't, he still hasn't discovered that girls exist despite those two trying for more than a year," Callum shrugged his shoulders,

"I'll see you at dinner then" she quickly left before he could answer, after closing the door she felt her heart beating loudly.

"I guess we'll talk later then" Callum kept staring at the closed door for some time before going back to work though he struggled to get anything done,

\--------------------

Later that night, Callum was lying in bed unable to sleep, he kept thinking back to being pinned down, the memory of her face clear in his mind especially her deep lilac eyes. He shook his head to clear his mind "Get a grip, she just a friend, and bringing her into the paranoia filled world of politics isn't gonna end well," He knew full well she'd become a target for some opportunistic schemer if she let her guard down as she no experience in this kind of thing. He though back to the accident she was caught up in and wondered "can I even honestly protect her?...."

Meanwhile elsewhere, Rayla was in her room suffering from insomnia,

"I'm just a commoner and he's royalty... it's a nonstarter," she sighed, "for all I know he's probably had his marriage arranged for him already to some snobby spoiled brat," she felt her face heat up as she remembered back to what transpired in his office while looking into those big beautiful green eyes "STOP IT STOP IT!!!!" she reminded herself that she held no status unlike Janai who was actually royalty. "If only he was an elf or a commoner like me, then maybe......"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goose-stepping, a marching style from Prussia and quickly spread around the world.  
> https://youtu.be/q7TdSKnq-Ck?t=18
> 
> Del-Bar marches like the Serbian military:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7TdSKnq-Ck
> 
> I came up with the idea of troops marching while watching Russian parades on youtube
> 
> in this story nations originally started doing military parades as a low key message to the nobles that that reside within their border "We're letting you have your a small army but if you try anything funny then what you see in this parade will be coming after you,"
> 
> the sense of patriotism and what not it instills in the citizenry was just a side benefit
> 
> \-----------------
> 
> How zombies work" 
> 
> they don't run,  
> always aim for the head, if you take a big stick and hit their head it will also kill them  
> they are dumb as dirt because they are dirt,  
> if they bite you you get sick and risk spreading it around,  
> no you won't turn into a zombie if they bite you,
> 
> Zombies like vampires turn to dust in sun light, a few zombies can survive the sun for several hours before crumbling, there are few places where they can remain active during the day time such as inside a cave, or at primal nexus i.e the cursed caldera. 
> 
> if enough of them gather in a spot then they start emitting some strange energy which causes the creation of stronger creatures like stone crawlers, ghouls etc to spawn. 
> 
> If you want to travel by land then you do it during the day and get armed escort for safety the safest paths are often elevated areas in mountains (including night time) such as the path Rayla and her caravan was traveling through before the accident. Hence why land based trade or travel is often avoided, 
> 
> ps: there are zombie filled ghost ships in the oceans, normally they remain under the water and are hunted by submarines but occasionally the damn things come to the surface and cause problems for merchant ships,
> 
> and by zombie ghost ships I don't mean ships filled with zombies roaming the ocean, I'm talking about half-actual-ship combined a with half-living-abomination-with tentacles or other things growing out of it that happen to be filled with zombies.
> 
> there is actually an international treaty about these ships that goes "If they are found, then drop what your doing including wars and deal with these accursed abominations first,"


	17. Sleep Deprived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla had to suffer insomnia because of the the events of the previous evening and the strings of fate are pulled leading the world to a path unknown to all but the puppeteer

Next morning,

Rayla slumped her head on her desk as she hadn't slept a wink last night. _damn that dumb human, making me go through this_ , 

"You okay Rayla?" Jasmine looked at her with concern since Rayla was looking the most miserable out of everyone present.

"Do I look ok to you?," Rayla whined as she barely lifted her head to look, her eyes felt like they were on fire

"Guess what they said was true, day one will ruin you." she looked around at everyone's tired faces,

 _I should probably not tell her the real reason I couldn't get any sleep._ Rayla looked up to see Jasmin had dark circles under her eyes as well, "You seem unusually full of energy today?"

"What can I say, coffee is the ultimate fuel." she was pretending that her exhaustion wasn't as bad as it was knowing it would crash on her when this day was over.

"Is that why you humans drink so much of it?"

"Most people yeah, in my case I just like it..... so you have any idea on what all the instructors are busy with?"

"Yeah I have an idea...." she sunk further into the desk, wanting nothing more than to sleep through this entire day.

"You do?" she beckoned for everyone,

"I said, I have an idea," She let out a tired sigh as she was surrounded by her platoon, "We're gonna be sent to fight the walking fertilizers in a few months."

"We're fighting zombies?" one of them asked, "How'd you even get this intel?" 

"If I told you then we'd all get in trouble for it," Rayla knew full well that telling them that she could ask Callum for info probably wasn't a good idea. She tried to sleep ignoring all the questions that she was being bombarded with.

An hour later, an instructor finally arrived, "Alright you lot, I got good news and bad news," She looked at the entire classroom for a moment, "The bad news is that your training has been shortened by a month and starting eight days from now, your getting a two week long break."

"How is that bad news mam?" one of them asked. No matter how they thought about it, getting a vacation and finishing training a month earlier sounded like a good thing,

"Because once the two weeks are over, you all are gonna make up for it and the extra month with some intense training," she felt a bit of pity for them knowing full well what they were thinking right now.

The room was enveloped by a dead silence, __That_ is bad news._ They were still sore from day 1, doing this for a whole month sounded like it would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment. Rayla looked on with lifeless eyes.

"Whats going on mam?"

"Sorry cadet but thats above your rank," The sergeant paused before continuing, "The good news is you greenhorns will be going to the Cursed Caldera to kill some fertilizers in your last month. Those who don't want to go can stay behind, but those who do go will a get promotion based on performance upon graduation. Any questions?."

"No Drill Sergent!" All of them were thinking about that promotion,

She gestured for some men outside to bring in some envelopes, "Good, here are your applications for going, fill them up and turn them in by the end of next month, Dismissed."

Rayla took her envelope and found it contained the application he signed yesterday, _So he's letting me decide if I want to go or not, guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point, he always gives me a way out._ She felt her cheeks warm thinking on it.

\---------------------

Next Day, Margrave's Office.

Callum was on the phone with Opeli while going through budget their current countermeasures for Operation Jester,

Callum: The military academies have been informed, they've begun to prepare as we speak.

He was currently reading through reports on the status of the modernization of their current stealth-airships

Opeli: I've finished going through the justice system so far none are implicated though I found something odd, there seems to be an unusual amount of transactions originating from Grasslands-Housing. Co.

Callum: Preston said he'd help with that place if we speed up the delivery.

Opeli: They seem eager to get them, I take it they've noticed similar movements on their sides?

Callum: That or they're feeling the pressure from the dukedom and feel their defenses are inadequate.

Opeli: I'll see to it that the delivery is sped up,

Callum put the phone down and began to go over the report on the Rimemere case, he turned his gaze towards the sofa half expecting to see Rayla goofing off, he lowered his shoulders and began to rub the bridge of his nose. The large spacious office felt empty now that she wasn't around. He decided to get some coffee hoping it might help him focus more on his work.

"Callum, you in here?" Ezran's voice came from outside

"Come on in Ez,"

Ezran opened the door and began to look around, "Where's Rayla? I haven't seen her." He held the door open for Zym to enter before closing it while carrying bait in the other arm.

"She's in Boot camp. She'll' be back in a week" He began filling a second cup for Ezran and added extra sugar to satisfy his brother's unrivaled sweet tooth.

"How long?"

"Two weeks, then she's going back for a few months," He found it made him feel worse thinking about how long that would be.

"So whatcha working on?" He took the cup before taking a sip to see Callum put enough sugar cubes or not,

"Right now, Rayla's fraudulent landlord and Viscount Hasting." 

Ezran got on the sofa carrying Bait while Zym followed close behind "Why hasn't Opeli grilled them already? she does that with everyone else."

"If it was only those two then she'd have done it by now, there are several other's we need to fish out first before grilling them,"

"Speaking of grilling, where's the buffet you said you'd be taking all of us to?"

Callum smiled "You'll have to wait till we get there and they have plenty of sweets including jelly tarts"

"SWEET!... wait can we bring Bait, Zym and Eva?" Ezran asked as he didn't recall ever seeing animals at buffets he'd visited.

"I got us a special room booked, we can eat there and they'll bring food for those three.... and do you have to eat the sugar cubes?" Callum narrowed his eyes as the sugar bowl was being emptied.

"What can I say, I like sweets," Ezran kept tossing the cubes into his mouth.

"It seems I'm surrounded by gluttons," Callum pretended to complain as he took a sip realizing he added a bit too much sugar himself.

"But we're your gluttons," Ezran stuck out his tongue.

"Ain't that the truth," 

\-------------------------------'

A Few Days later.

Rayla was doing push-ups outside the barracks while almost everyone was trying to rest in the barracks, _At least I'm getting a good work out from this,_ next to her was Jasmin pleading on her knees,

"Come on Rayla, can't you help me with this?" 

"Nope, and what do you expect me to do? cause a commotion?" 

"Can't you turn invisible and sneak in some deluxe coffee powder?,"

"I need a full moon to do that and I refuse to be a part of this," Rayla knew getting caught wasn't gonna end well, _That would cause problems for Callum if this ever got out._

"What if I gave you enough money to buy yourself some tasty treats," She recalled Rayla was a bit of a food lover and thought this might convince her.

 _My sad prince pays me better for this kind of work..... STOP THINKING THAT!!!!_ Rayla shook her head trying to clear that though, "Hate to break it to ya but I already have a luxurious high class buffet waiting for me, so try something else,"

"How'd you afford that?!" That was not something she expected, she knew how expensive a buffet would be unless it was the harvest festival. "Ok then what if I sweetened things with a ..."

"WORD OF ADVICE CADETS!! PLAN YOUR CONSPIRACIES FAR AWAY FROM MY OFFICE!! 30 LAPS ON THE FIELD!! DOUBLE TIME!!!!" Boomed the drill Sergent's voice from the other side of the concrete wall

"YES DRILL SERGEANT, SIR!!!" They ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Was his office always close to the barracks?" Rayla asked

"I don't know and I thought he'd already went to the castle, whats he doing back here so soon!!!" she did not look back fearing to see their superior's face.

\----------------------------

Frenoria, Erdus.

"How are the preparations for the meeting?" Ernest asked

"All taken care of," Richard replied, "Sadly because of all this, the prince had postponed his forsaken hunting trip,"

"Cant really blames him for that, this is too big to ignore... I really wanted that recording,"

"The good news is that the black market problem originating from Rimere will be taken care of,"

"True, it's too bad we had to risk an international incident to deal with it,"

"It can't be helped, they normally smuggled regular items through Rimemere so it wasn't a high priority compared to other matters such as us... though there is an issue,"

"an issue?" Ernest knew this wasn't going to be good news,

"I got another communication, it seems while trying to investigate what we've done, Katolis found a separate etherium smuggling operation originating from our side,"

"Was it all for _that_?" Ernest knew where this was going

"It seems they were slowly building a stockpile and we've accidentally caused it to be discovered," Richard was beginning to get a grasp of just how large this operation truly was and that his information network had failed to notice it happening under nose worried him, _My plans for a peaceful world are at jeopardy because of some ambitious warhawks,_

"We should probably fish around during the meeting." 

\---------------------------

Moonshadow Kingdom, Xadia

Within the courtroom, the king and Runaan were discussing surrounded by court officials and military commanders along with representatives from the other elven kingdoms.

"How are your preparations?" The king asked wearily, the burden of carrying the weight of everyone's lives was taking its toll on him, he was mentally exhausted because of this mission which he had to ensure remained a secret at all costs. 

"I went to the quartermaster and he is refusing to give us the concentrated poisons," Runaan said,

The king gestured to one of the court officials to deal with it, 

"But when does your team depart?" One of the court officials asked

"We'll depart within a few months when the humans will begin their preparations for winter," Runaan had spent days going through every report on human activity within Xadia he could find in order to know figure out when to enter the human lands with the highest chance of success.

The king held out two shadowhawk arrows, one red and one white, Runaan took them knowing that one represented the hope of Xadia which rested on his mission while the other represented what might be an even greater disaster if he failed.

\-----------------------------------------

Polmauren, Erdus Dukedom 2:00 AM

Duke Vanderbilt's laboratory was still filled with the nearly overwhelming smell of the very chemicals he was mixing merely moments ago. Several containers were in front of his labeled in cipher as to what their contents were. These potions had proven to be extremely difficult to make despite his unrivaled expertise in this field. He called for his subordinates to have these potions delivered to his allies knowing that he had done all he could and everything now was up to fate to decide. He sat at his desk contemplating as he waited for the room to ventilate itself. His goals were in front of him right now and there was no turning back, _No, I have no choice but to go through with this,_

His face contorted with a pained expression as he opened the desk drawer to take out a strange disk, his hands were trembling as he held it almost as if he was holding a dangerous beast that would bite off his hand. The disk had had a symbol engraved on it which glowed indicating that _they_ were nearby which he knew could be interpreted as being literally anywhere as their standards greatly differed from his. Not a day passed where he didn't wish he hadn't learned _the truth_ of everything. He knew the power this symbol held and he genuinely fears it.


End file.
